May was placed on report after he rushed out of the line and tried to put a hit on Walsh early in the Panthers’ 34-12 win on Thursday night, with the pair clashing heads slightly after Walsh passed the ball.

The contact left Walsh unable to see out of his left eye, as it closed up while he was off the field receiving stitches to a bad cut to the face.

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.

A grade-two dangerous contact charge would leave May banned for next week against the Sydney Roosters and his brother Terrell.

But Cleary believed there was nothing wrong with the tackle.

“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 of 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.”

Broncos coach Kevin Walters said he did not have a good view of the hit, but labelled it as “just one of those things that happen”.

Of greater concern for Walters is the fitness of Walsh.

Any fracture could potentially leave him on the sidelines with Adam Reynolds and Payne Haas, and the Broncos without their three most important players.

Walsh was due for scans on Friday morning, but Brisbane are hopeful there is no bone damage.

“He tried to get back on, but he couldn’t see. So we had to pull him from the game,” Walters said.

One change that Walters is likely to make against North Queensland next week is an outside back on his bench.

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 Broncos’ defence apart with ease, with three first-half tries coming down that side.

The Broncos have hooker Tyson Smoothy on their bench, and the absence of Haas does make it tempting for Brisbane to have four forwards on the interchange.

But Walters conceded that carrying an outside back could now be imperative.

“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.”