If. He'd been going to tackle him, it wouldn't have been a problem, but he wasn't, he was putting a shot on, with the shoulder, he'd already decided what he was going to no, and that was smash him, not tackle him.

I said it was reckless last night on here, it wasn't but it was careless.

If he had gone for the ball at the last second it is not inconcievable that they would have collided head to head, resulting in potentially a more serious injury to both

Yes ML was going to put a big hit on Russel, but that is not outside the rules, it was Russel moving forward that put him in a position that resulted in his injuries, just bad luck

If he had gone for the ball at the last second it is not inconcievable that they would have collided head to head, resulting in potentially a more serious injury to both

Yes ML was going to put a big hit on Russel, but that is not outside the rules, it was Russel moving forward that put him in a position that resulted in his injuries, just bad luck

If you listen again to Thaler throughout the aftermath of the incident (admittedly made more difficult than it need be by the Sky team talking over the referee) it's absolutely clear that he did consult with the VR, and made certain that he understood what the VR said, as well as asking for the view of the tjs. Players asked him to go to the VR, and he confirmed that he 'had looked at it'.

Whether you agree or not, he did. Thaler asks the VR "are we going with the knock-on or are we going with the contact", he later points to his earpiece and says "I've got it from here, knock on", and then several times, "they've viewed/reviewed it, no foul".

That's when the verdict changed from 'no contact with the head' (clearly a mistake and he only says it once), to 'no foul play' (which he repeats any number of times). And that's the crux of the matter. There was no foul play, no intent, no 'attack to the head' (as I've seen people claim). It was a clumsy, ill-timed collision caused by the speed of Leuluai's chase and the fact Russell knocked on and lunged forward and downward for the ball.

If Russell had gathered the ball it would have just been a well-timed, good hard tackle, but his forward lunge reduced the distance between the players unexpectedly. You can see Leuluai react to this by turning his head immediately prior to collision. It came too early, too hard, all timing out the window.

Not all incidents like this are foul play, regardless of severity of injury. We don't penalise when heads accidentally collide with hips, knees, elbows or indeed other heads and for me this is no different. 'Blame' is not the word to use but the position Russell put himself in is what resulted in the collision.

Again though, I expect the RFL will feel they need to send a message and will take some form of action.

Mistimed, unfortunate, unable to pull out of it, any other opinion is surely by the by.

If I put out a straight arm on say someone like Eorl Crabtree I'll hit him in the chest, if I do it to Burrow I'll clean him out.

Can I use the excuse well I did the same tackle last week on Crabtree and no one said anything?

There needs to be a duty of care, if you make a mistake you hit the head then you're off.

If I run over someone in my car can I get away with by saying I didn't mean it, no.

Direct contact with the head in that type of situation should be a red, intended or not, otherwise we may get someone like Wane with his at the edge of the rules training turning it into a tactic.

Time to take VR to the next stage.after a tackle has been made, all the action has to analysed to the nth degree to ensure no foul play, no fingertip control, no forward pass, no off side etc has taken place.
Then all the action can be reviewed on the large screen and a referendum taken of all those watching at home using the red button can be taken. Those at the ground can use their smart phones.
It seems the next logical step, because the technology exists so we must use it.
The genie is out of the bottle.
The game has lost so much in the name of progress.
Sadly the biggest thing the game had going for it, common sense, is slowly but surely dwindling away.

Having watched it agin on the highlights this afternoon, it's an awful tackle. Should get a lengthy ban. Totally unacceptable that none of the match officials did anything at the time.

Having said there was nothing wrong with it, they even got it wrong by not awarding Widnes a try

I didn't hear Thaler ask anyone to do anything on the VR side. If they had looked at it, they would have awarded Widnes a try. Russell knocked on, no one else did, and it was grounded in goal by a Widnes player.

As far saying that Russell losing the ball led to him being cleaned out, that's rubbish. When he first knocked on Leuluai had plenty of time to pull out. He didn't He continued & cleaned Russell out without him having the ball.

Compare it to the Hanbury knock on from athe high kick. Myler was bearing down on him to put a hot on, but he pulled out of it.

Watching the ML tackle at full speed it's an awful tackle & should get a long ban.

Watch it again; if after watching it again you still don't hear Thaler talking to the VR then you need to see either your local TV shop to replace a set that isn't working or your GP to get your ears tested.

At the game, Monas was talking to him, from my view from the stand Thaler points to his ear and does the double hand signal for knock on, it was obvious he'd spoke to the vid ref in the crowd.
No one could believe we didn't get anything though, it was shocking and I was on the 10 line and the noise itself was something, then seeing him motionless was a little worrying to say the least.

rlThis may help.rl

If the rule is that any contact from the shoulder to the head is a red card, then that should have been a red card.

The 'nasty collision, injuries happen etc..' view I don't agree with. The Walmsley incident using that argument was a nothing tackle then as Walmsley was coming in with a bent back intending to make a legitimate tackle.

no charges from any weekend games so it was legit
good job he wasnt hanged from the hj crossbar at full time

rlLeuluai cleared of any foul play.rl