- Reece Walsh suffered a severe head impact on Thursday
- The incident occurred five minutes into the game
- He is ready for analyzes Friday morning
The Brisbane Broncos suffered a terrible night at the office after losing star fullback Reece Walsh in a drubbing by NRL champions Penrith.
Walsh lashed out at Latrell Mitchell in last week’s win over South Sydney but was forced off the field after just five minutes following an ugly head clash with Panthers star Taylan May.
As a result, a huge gash appeared on the left side of his face and it took medical staff 20 minutes to stitch it up.
He was preparing to return to the field, but returned to the tunnel after complaining of vision problems. The Broncos confirmed he will have scans Friday morning.
Nathan Cleary inflicted further pain on Brisbane by putting on a masterclass to lead the Panthers to a 34-12 demolition job in the grand final rematch.
Reece Walsh suffered a nasty injury on Thursday night
Broncos star was the target of a nasty clash with Taylan May
Six months after stealing the NRL premiership in Brisbane with the best 20 individual minutes in grand final history, Cleary was at it again on Thursday night.
The Penrith half contributed four tries, including an assist to Izack Tago before half-time, to end the Broncos’ hopes at BlueBet Stadium.
And with Walsh, Payne Haas and Adam Reynolds all missing, Cleary picked the Broncos apart with ease.
He repeatedly targeted Brendan Piakura, with Brisbane forced to play the second rower at left center while Selwyn Cobbo filled in at fullback.
It was on this edge that Cleary found space for the Panthers’ first try, when he played a ball to winger Sunia Turuva to put it over.
Center Tago was the next man to benefit, his first try coming from a long cut ball from Cleary after Jarome Luai had changed the point of attack.
Then came the game of the evening just before halftime.
With Brisbane already on the ropes 16-2, Cleary leapt across the court and put Brisbane on the back foot with a double pump dummy and another show-and-go.
This allowed Tago to find himself in a gaping hole and put the match beyond doubt.
Cleary’s night still wasn’t over, getting involved after the break when he ran across the field to create numbers before Luai and May put Brian To’o in place.
By then, Cleary had been involved in six tries in the space of 60 minutes of football against the Broncos, dating back to last year’s grand final.
It took doctors 20 minutes to sew up a gash on the left side of his face.
What was also evident was that while Brisbane didn’t want to talk about last year’s grand final this week, Penrith clearly learned from it.
They rushed in and cut down time and space on Brisbane’s edges, after Ezra Mam and Walsh did all the damage in the 2023 decider.
That’s how Walsh was injured, with May reported for colliding with the Broncos fullback early in the game.
Penrith protested the penalty, but referee Gerard Sutton ruled that May had a duty to take care to bend during the tackle and avoid collision to the head.
Brisbane scored a penalty to go 2-0 up, but their next points didn’t come until late in the game in the second half.
Penrith are flying again, while Brisbane now have one win in three matches to start the season and risk seeing Walsh join Reynolds and Haas on the sidelines.
