No judiciary charge from alleged eye gouge in opening game of women’s State of Origin series

NSW hooker Keeley Davis was confident she was eye-gouged in the opening State of Origin game but no culprits were found.

NSW hooker Keeley Davis’s on-field eye-gouging complaint made during the opening game of the State of Origin series didn’t result in any players being charged.

The allegation was made against an unnamed Queensland player by NSW Skipper Isabelle Kelly on behalf of her teammate although Davis was “unsure” who the perpetrator was.

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 telling both her captain and coach she had been eye-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 wasn’t sure who, there was a couple in the tackle, so she told the ref, they put it on report, so they’ll have a look at it,” he said.

“She told us she got bit last year.”

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.”

Originally published as No judiciary charge from alleged eye gouge in opening game of women’s State of Origin series