Quote Fantastic Mr Cat="Fantastic Mr Cat"Just watching it back now, definitely hit him in the face with his shoulder, he brought his arm up AFTER the contact, that's saved him from going off in my opinion.
He's not gone to tackle Russell, he 's gone to hit him at high speed, which is a little bit reckless'"
Most tackles involve attempting to hit the opposing player at high speed. That's what rugby league players do. That distinction is false.
I absolutely understand Warrington fans feeling aggrieved at what's happened to Russell, who would have been a key player in their push on Old Trafford, but let's not try to create a drama where there is none. It was tackle which connected with the head carelessly, not a deliberate attack to the head. I'll be honest, until I saw the replay from the angle Carney and Wells showed after the game, I thought Thaler got it spot on, as it was very difficult to see any direct head contact from the angles shown, and at full speed. I thought the knock-out was due to his head hitting the floor after the impact. But clearly, direct impact on the head did take place. He'll get charged with a careless high tackle, of the sort which does take place in every game, but which - thankfully - doesn't usually have such awful consequences.
Let's put the pitchforks away. RL is a high-speed collision sport, and occasionally those collisions go wrong. It doesn't mean the players are actively trying to seriously injure each other every time someone gets hurt.