Broncos star Reece Walsh is reportedly set to escape suspension for a headbutt.
According to the SMH, Walsh will only be fined for the incident, meaning he’ll be free to play in Brisbane’s preliminary final in a fortnight.
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Teammate Pat Carrigan has yet to learn his fate from the judiciary.
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The Broncos duo were sin binned for separate incidents during Sunday’s finals epic against Canberra.
The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield was incredulous on the Big Sports Breakfast radio show on Monday morning, in disbelief Walsh wasn’t sent off for his headbutt on Raiders star Hudson Young.
For that reason, Rothfield is of the opinion Walsh should cop at least a game ban, which would mean he misses Brisbane’s preliminary final in a fortnight’s time.
Rothfield was also critical of the decision from referee Ashley Klein to sin bin Young for taunting, which led to Walsh’s headbutt reaction.
“I have never ever seen in my life a player sin binned for celebrating a mistake of an opposition player. Never seen it happen before,” Rothfield said.
“He wasn’t physical, got in a guy’s face and was sin binned. Because he celebrated the mistake, he was headbutted.
“Since 1908, I don’t care the force in it, a headbutt is an immediate send off. No Bunker, no arguments, send off and that’s what should have happened yesterday and it would have changed the result of the game.
“I’ve never ever seen it happen before. In all my years covering rugby league, I’ve never seen it happen.
“Reece Walsh is the superstar of the game. He’s the No. 1 attraction in rugby league but will they have the courage to ensure he’s suspended for that act.
“On a scale of force, I wouldn’t be banning him for two weeks to miss a grand final but I think it’s a Grade 2 Dangerous Contact, one week.”
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Raiders legend and Blues coach Laurie Daley agreed wholeheartedly.
“The headbutt is a headbutt. You’re off and then to sin bin Hudson for celebrating, it’s completely wrong. Wrong,” Big Sports Breakfast co-host Daley said.
“There was absolutely no doubt that the Bunker should have removed Reece Walsh from the field, kept Hudson Young on the field and given Canberra the penalty in a crucial stage of the game.”
In addition to Walsh, Carrigan also faces a nervous wait until the match review committee releases their charge sheet today.
Just minutes after Walsh went to the bin, Carrigan levelled Morgan Smithies with a shoulder charge which hit the Raiders forward on the head.
Rothfield and Daley agreed again in believing Carrigan should received a suspension.
‘under pressure not to ban him’ Johns | 01:25
“I haven’t looked at the replay closely but I’m told the Pat Carrigan one (shoulder charge) on Morgan Smithies is a particularly bad one. That’s going to be given a very high grading I’m told,” Rothfield reported.
Daley added: “It possibly should be. He connected straight to his head with force because he jammed out of the line and then Smithies leaves the field with blood running from his face.”
“I’m fascinated to see what the charge sheet will be today because I think Walsh has to (be suspended) too.”
The Raiders have to dust themselves off now and prepare for a semi-final clash with Cronulla in five days time.
However, will the mental and physical toll of Sunday’s 94-minute epic be too much to overcome especially having victory snatched from them twice due to overturned decisions.
“I think about what happened to Canberra in the 2019 grand final with the major six again call. Some of these mistakes you can’t recover from,” Rothfield said.
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