NSW hooker Keeley Davis has alleged she was eye-gouged during the Women’s State of Origin opener against Queensland on Thursday night.
The Blues have also claimed Davis was bitten during last year’s series.
Blues captain Isabelle Kelly and Davis approached referee Belinda Sharpe to lodge a formal complaint during the first half of the 32-12 win over the Maroons in Brisbane.
Davis was unsure which player had allegedly gouged her but first gestured to her eye following a hit from Maroons forwards Keilee Joseph and Romy Teitzel just before Kelly scored the Blues’ second try.
Sharpe placed the incident on report without naming a Maroons player, but Davis was adamant she had been gouged.
“I felt an eye gouge,” Davis said after the match.
“It’s the Origin arena, things happen. There’s a difference when it’s incidental than on purpose.”
The match had still been in the balance with NSW leading 10-6 when Kelly and Davis approached Sharpe to lodge their complaint.
“She wasn’t sure who (did it). There were a couple in the tackle,” Blues coach John Strange said.
“She told the ref, they put it on report so they’ll have a look at it.”
Kelly insisted such an incident would not have distracted her Sydney Roosters teammate from her pivotal role as hooker.
“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.”
Pointing to evidence of Davis’s resilience, Strange revealed 24-year-old Davis had played on after another alleged incident in the 2024 Origin series.
“She told us she got bit last year,” said Strange, who also coaches the Roosters.
It left Kelly to approach Davis before this year’s series and encourage her not to stay quiet if any foul play happened in the second annual three-match series.
“I said, ‘If anything happens this time, you make sure you tell me’,” Kelly said.
“She’s a professional Keeley, she’s been great. I thought she was great tonight as well. I knew it wasn’t going to affect her.”
Davis finished with 12 tackles and 39 run metres from her 41 minutes at hooker.
She said she was able to quickly move on from the alleged eye-gouging incident.
“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,” Davis said.
“And even good things, you just have to keep your focus on the next job.”
AAP
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