Superstar Brisbane fullback Reece Walsh suffers facial fracture as May avoids charge

Brisbane’s injury crisis has worsened with Reece Walsh set to be sidelined after scans showed a facial fracture from his sickening blow against Penrith.

Panthers centre Taylan May avoided charge for his head clash with Walsh, which ruled the Broncos superstar out of the game in just the fourth minute.

But the news was not so good for Brisbane.

Walsh was rushed for scans on Thursday night after the 34-12 loss, and they have since shown a facial fracture.

“As a result, he cannot fly home and is being driven back up to Brisbane today (on a bus) by our staff,” Broncos high performance boss Dave Ballard said.

“We will be able to determine how much footy Reece will miss once the injury settles down and after we consult a specialist in coming days.”

Walsh’s injury leaves Brisbane without their three most influential players ahead of next Friday’s clash with North Queensland.

Adam Reynolds will not return until at least round five against Melbourne, while a knee problem has also sidelined Payne Haas for the next month.

Coach Kevin Walters also admitted on Thursday night he had to rethink his interchange bench, after Walsh’s injury left the Broncos exposed on the edges.

Second-rower Brendan Piakura was forced to defend at left centre and prop Fletcher Baker on an edge, with Selwyn Cobbo playing fullback in place of Walsh.

That allowed Cleary to pick the visitor’s defence apart with ease, with three first-half tries coming down that side.

“We had Tristan Sailor parked as 18th man, but he couldn’t come into the game. So we won’t be doing that again,” Walters said.

“We have to (have someone like Sailor on the bench) because if you lose some of those outside backs, you need specialists.

“Me, as a coach, I have to pick the right people on our bench to make sure we cover everything. I take a bit of the blame there.”

Meanwhile, Walters said after the match he believed the head clash between Walsh and May was “just one of those things that happen”.

May was placed on report after he rushed out of the line and tried to put a hit on the Broncos fullback, with the pair clashing heads after Walsh passed the ball.

May was told by referee Gerard Sutton he had a duty of care to avoid the head clash, and that he should have bent down in the contact.

But Penrith coach Ivan Cleary was adamant that the contact was simply accidental, with his view backed up by the match review committee.

“No one wants to see the best players go off, but I just saw it as an accident,” Cleary said.

“I thought he was trying to pull out of the tackle, he was directly upright, which is not how you tackle.

“If he had bent down, he probably would have hit him in the head with his shoulder.

“Reece Walsh moves pretty fast, these things happen. I’m not too concerned about that.”