But how many for head clashes? I know you can't contact the head but there would be a lot of head-on-head contact in a game in tackles and on the ground and they're not sin bin worthy.
If his shoulder had done the damage to Walsh, I think he's out for three weeks, but it was his head. Doesn't change the impact to Walsh's face or the Broncos but it could have just as easily been him out for four weeks and stitches in his face.
You can't completely eliminate the accident from sport.
Sorry mate, this take is cooked.
It meets the definitions of a reckless high tackle, a shoulder charge AND late contact with a passer under the NRL's definitions:
High Tackle – Careless
A Careless High Tackle is when a defending player makes forceful contact with the head or neck of an attacking player. The contact must be deemed careless, in that the defending player has failed in his duty of care.
What are the key indicators of this charge?
A careless high tackle generally sees the defending player attempting to make a genuine attempt at making a wrapping or grabbing tackle. The defender’s hand/s are generally open when making a wrapping type tackle.
The initial point of contact may not have been directly with the head or neck, however contact with the head or neck did occur during the tackle. However, the attempted tackle was made in the marginal target area, which is high around the upper chest and shoulders of the defending player.
At times, a careless high tackle may see the attacking player be impacted by another defender in the tackle which sees their height lowered when tackled.
I've underlined the important parts here - May was not attempting to make a genuine attempt at a wrapping or grabbing tackle, so it was not a
careless high tackle, it was worse than that but at a minimum he could/should have been charged with this. Let's step up to reckless:
High Tackle – Reckless
A Reckless High Tackle is when a defending player makes forceful contact with the head or neck of an attacking player. The high contact will be deemed reckless when a player foresees high contact before or during the action of a tackle and carries on with the tackle regardless of that risk. A player may “foresee” high contact when starting (or even during) a tackle even if he closes his eyes or looks away at the last moment.
What are the key indicators of this charge?
The defender is not attempting to make a genuine attempt at making a wrapping or grabbing tackle. The defender’s hand/s may be clinched in a fist. The defender’s arm may be swinging in an upwards direction. The attempted tackle was made in the marginal target area, which is high around the upper chest and shoulders of the defending player.
This is far more appropriate. May jumps into the contact, which can only ever result in high contact on Walsh. There is no genuine attempt at a wrapping tackle, he has an arm tucked. You can also see in the above that if his face doesn't make contact with Walsh's head and rock it backwards, his shoulder absolutely would have. Which leads into:
Shoulder Charge
A shoulder charge is where the tackling player uses his shoulder and/or upper arm without, at the same time, using both of his arms to tackle or otherwise take hold of the opposing player. Arms obviously includes hands. The contact and force must be generated by the shoulder of the tackling player. Unless both arms are used or attempted to be used, then in any case where the shoulder and/or upper are used to make forceful contact, it will be a shoulder charge.
What are the key indicators of this charge?
A shoulder charge and the contact made must be forceful. The key question is whether the defender attempted to use both arms in attempting to wrap in the tackle. At times, another defender may impact the ability for the defender to use both arms in the tackle (squeezed out). At times, defending players may make incidental contact with an attacking player by attempting to brace or absorb an impact, as opposed to generating a forceful contact themselves.
Clearly, both arms were NOT used to tackle or take hold of Walsh, so this tackle meets the definition of a shoulder charge as well. It's about as clear-cut as you can get. As far as late:
Late contact with passers
Where an attacking player who has passed the football is placed into a position of particular physical vulnerability, the defending player has a special duty to avoid forceful and dangerous contact with the attacking player. After a player has passed the football, they generally do not expect to have forceful contact made by a defending player. Any forceful contact that places an attacking player at an unnecessary risk of being injured after they have passed the ball may be charged with this offence.
What are the key indicators of this charge?
The contact must be made to player who was not in possession of the ball. It must be assessed whether the defending player could have avoided making the contact to the player who had passed the ball. The contact that was made must have an unacceptable risk of injury to the attacking player. The attacking player must have had no ability to protect himself during this contact. It must be assessed whether the defender was not obstructed in their view of the player having already passed the ball.
It was a late, reckless, high shoulder charge. He could have been charged under
any of those 4 markers, how he completely avoids sanction for it is just disgusting.
