Vision emerges of illegal Reece Walsh act that should have seen him sin-binned against Panthers

OPINION

Reece Walsh returned to his barnstorming best in the Broncos’ 14-12 victory over the Panthers in Round 20 to keep Brisbane’s faint NRL finals hopes alive. But there’s a genuine argument that he should have spent 10 minutes in the sin-bin at a crucial stage of the game.

Vision has emerged of the moment he lashed out and struck Panthers forward Isaiah Papali’i in the face during a scuffle in the second half. After a turnover on the last tackle, Papali’i held onto the ball for a little longer than Walsh’s liking.

The Broncos fullback smashed the ball out of Papali’i’s grasp, and then took exception when the Panthers forward put his hand on Walsh’s head and pushed him. Walsh lashed out at Papali’i and hit his opponent in the face with an open hand, which sparked a mini fracas.

The referee actually awarded the Broncos a penalty – much to the disbelief of Panthers fans. In actual fact, the penalty should have gone against Walsh and the Broncos star was lucky to avoid a stint in the sin-bin.

The NRL made it illegal a number of years ago for players to shove or slap opponents in the face. The rule change came after punching was made an automatic sin-bin, which led to players slapping each other instead.

Alex Twal sin-binned for similar act to Reece Walsh

As we saw with Alex Twal on Saturday night, Walsh’s actions should have amounted to a sin-bin. Twal slapped Jaeman Salmon in the head during the Bulldogs’ win over the Wests Tigers and was marched for 10 minutes. Twal also copped a fine from the NRL match review committee on Sunday morning.

Considering Walsh had all three of Brisbane’s try assists, it certainly would have been handy for the Panthers if he spent 10 minutes watching from the dressing sheds. Instead he was allowed to stay on the field and set up the match-winning try around 10 minutes after the Papali’i incident.

It was one of a number of calls that infuriated Panthers fans as they suffered their third loss in the last four games. They’re now just two points ahead of the Warriors at the top of the NRL ladder, while the Broncos are still alive on 18 points – six points outside the top-eight with seven rounds remaining.