Despite Taylan May's season ending in the incident, the NRL have deemed the injury an unfortunate accident following Agnatius Paasi's involvement in the tackle.
May will sit the entire season on the sidelines as he rehabs a ruptured ACL suffered in Penrith's clash against St Helens, however despite the outcome, the NRL is adamant there was no foul play in the tackle.
While many Panthers fans raised concerns over a possible cannonball or hip-drop tackle, with Paasi the third-man into the tackle, the point of initial contact has cleared the former NRL prop of any wrongdoing.
Konrad Hurrell and Morgan Knowles made a routine tackle on the winger, holding him up, while Paasi came in around May's quadricep area. For it to be deemed a cannonball, the initial point of contact must occur on or below the knee.
Paasi wasn't charged by the match review committee, with their co-ordinator Luke Patten confirming to The Sydney Morning Herald that the committee agreed Paasi's actions weren't careless in nature.
“Firstly, the initial point of contact by Paasi was high on May's hip/upper thigh,” Patten told the The Sydney Morning Herald in a statement.
“For a tackle to be considered dangerous and spearing at the legs, the Match Review Committee must see forceful contact at or around the knee of the attacking player.
“Paasi also drops to his knees at the point of contact, which we encourage players to do, and did not drop his body weight onto the back of May's lower legs. This is one of the key indicators that we would look for in a hip drop tackle.”
Sunia Turuva is expected to replace May on the wing for the 2023 season, although rookies Jack Cole, Thomas Jenkins and Jesse McLean remain an outside chance of breaking into the backline.
