No judiciary charge from alleged eye gouge in opening game of women's State of Origin series
NSW hooker Keeley Davis refused to proceed with her on-field eye-gouging complaint made during the opening game of the women's State of Origin series.
No players were charged by the NRL judiciary despite the allegation made against an unnamed player by NSW Skipper Isabelle Kelly on behalf of her teammate.
The incident was put on report by referee Belinda Sharpe, but there was a lack of conclusive evidence in footage viewed in the aftermath of NSW's 32-12 win at Suncorp Stadium and the complaint wasn't followed through.
That was despite Davis being adamant that she had been gouged.
'I've never felt it in a game. I felt an eye gouge,' she said.
'It's the Origin arena, things happen. There's a difference when it's incidental than on purpose. I hope it doesn't happen.'
Corey Parker on Origin Eye Gouge
"If you are going to make an accusation about an eye gouge, you'd want to have some hard evidence to suggest there was an eye gouged" pic.twitter.com/fcSVrthoR0
— SENQ Breakfast (@CozHealsSEN) May 1, 2025
Kelly said she had no reason to doubt her teammate.
'If you know Keeley, you know that's not going to rattle her,' she said.
'I told any of the girls to come to me with anything if they need to and that's exactly what I did, put my players first.'
Blues coach John Strange revealed Davis had played on after an alleged biting incident in the 2024 Origin series.
'She told us she got bit last year,' Strange said.
Davis said she was able to move on from the incident midgame because the best players needed to be 'goldfish' and have a short memory.
'It's like an error, you've got to be a goldfish and all the best players are goldfish about things that they don't want to remember,' she said.
'And even good things, you just have to keep your focus on the next job.'
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