Maroons eye-gouging allegation rocks Women’s Origin game one

The opening match of this year’s Women’s State of Origin showdown has been rocked by a shock accusation in Brisbane.

No charges have been laid for an alleged eye gouge in a dramatic moment during the Blues’ 32-12 victory over Queensland in game one of the Women’s State of Origin clash on Thursday night.

The first game in the highly anticipated rugby league grudge match took place at Suncorp Stadium, with the Maroons chasing a third straight series win.

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In a high quality match in front of a record 26,022 fans to commence Magic Round in Brisbane, the Blues took a 14-12 lead into halftime, but not before a contentious moment right before Isabelle Kelly’s try in the 15th minute.

Blues hooker Keeley Davis was allegedly the victim of an eye gouge, with NSW skipper Kelly lodging an official complaint with referee Belinda Sharpe, who put the incident on report.

Despite the allegation, on Friday the NRL Match Review Committee confirmed no charges had come out of the game, with the alleged eye-gouge going unpunished.

You can watch the incident in the video player above

NSW hooker Keeley Davis alleged she was eye-gouged.

Maroons great Corey Parker said on SENQ: “The thing that really concerned me, and there were allegations on the stroke of halftime, if you’re going to make an accusation of an eye gouge, you would want to have some hard evidence to suggest it was an eye gouge,” Parker said.

“The accusations, Keeley Davis, she made it known to the referee pretty much right on half time that she had been eye gouged.

“And the lady I suppose in question is Romy Teitzel.

“If you know Romy Teitzel, Romy Teitzel is by no means, absolutely by no means a player that would throw an eye gouge in.

“She’s just a hard-working back-rower from Tulley.”

Speaking after the incident, Davis said: “I just won’t say too much on that yet, I don’t know how much I can say.

“Obviously, it’s going to have to go to the judiciary and things like that, so I’ll just leave it at that.

“I’ve never felt it in the game (till now). I felt an eye gouge.”

Isabelle Kelly scores a try for the Blues during game one. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Teitzel was the player initially placed on report and Phil Gould mentioned the incident during the broadcast on Channel 9.

“A little bit of drama following that try,” Gould said.

“I think there’s been an official complaint from one of the Blues players alleging something of an eye gouge back in play.

“They haven’t called the player out that’s been accused, but referee Belinda Sharpe has put it on report.

“The Blues player was asked several times if she wanted to go on with it and she was quite determined.”

It was another physical contest between the two states. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Blues coach John Strange confirmed the allegation in his post-match press conference alongside Kelly.

“I just spoke to Keeley and she said she got eye-gouged during the first half,” Strange said.

“She wasn’t sure who, there was a couple in the tackle, but she told the ref and they put it on report so they will have a look at it.”

Kelly confirmed what was said on the field, which is why she made the complaint to the referee.

“She said exactly that and I told any of the girls to come to me for anything if they need to and that’s exactly what I did, put my players first,” Kelly said.

“But we will see what comes of it at the end of the day.”

Kelly was pressed on how she got Keeley back focused on the job after the incident.

“I think if you know Keeley you know that is not going to rattle her,” Kelly said.

“She told me she got bitten last year,” Strange interjected.

“Yeah and she let it go, so I said if anything happens this time you make sure you tell me,” Kelly continued.

“She’s a professional and she was great tonight and I knew it wasn’t going to affect her.”

Maroons coach Tahnee Norris was cagey on the incident in her press conference.

“Not yet no,” Norris said when asked about the eye gouge accusation.

Norris was pressed on who the accusation was made against.

“No idea,” Norris said.

In a physical match to start the three-game series, there was also a penalty for hair pulling and a glut of quality tries.

The visitors crossed the line three times to Queensland’s two to hold a two-point edge at the break in a tight first half.

NSW then put its foot down after the restart, piling on three more tries to break the game open.

In the end the Blues dictated terms to record a 20-point lead and take an early series lead.

“They’ve totally dominated this second stanza,” Gould said of the Blues midway through the second half.

“NSW has never won an Origin series and winning this first game would be a long step towards that.”

A formal complaint was lodged with referee Belinda Sharpe. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The series began back in 1999 and has been dominated by the Maroons, winning 16 consecutive years in a row from its inception, which were mostly one-off games.

Two games were held in 2004 and 2008, both won by Queensland, with the series moving to three fixtures for the first time last year.

The Blues took the honours from 2016-2019 in one-off games, but has yet to win a series held over more than one fixture, going down 2-1 last year.

“Last year NSW won game one as well Gus. We’ll be back,” Maroons great Darren Lockyer fired back at Gould after fulltime.

Game two is at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on May 15, with the final match in Newcastle on May 29.

– with foxsports.com.au

Originally published as Maroons eye-gouging allegation rocks Women’s Origin game one