Women’s State of Origin 2023: Julia Robinson charged with grade two dangerous contact over Isabelle Kelly elbow
As Isabelle Kelly opened up on her ‘scary’ ordeal after copping an elbow to the throat in the Women’s State of Origin match, the Maroons star involved in the incident has learned her fate.
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Maroons winger Julia Robinson has been charged by the NRL match review committee for her elbow to the throat of NSW captain Isabelle Kelly.
The NRL match review committee has hit Robinson with a grade two dangerous contact charge.
Robinson will miss either one or two matches.
The incident was the major talking point from the Maroons victory over the Sky Blues in the State of Origin series opener on Thursday night.
ANNESLEY DEFENDS REFEREE HANDLING OF ELBOW FALLOUT
NRL head of football Graham Annesley says the officials from Thursday night’s women’s State of Origin game followed protocol after they were widely criticised for how they handled Isabelle Kelly’s throat injury by allowing play to continue.
Kelly remains in the intensive care unit at Westmead Hospital after she copped an elbow to the throat while trying to make a tackle on Queensland’s Julia Robinson, but she has been cleared of a fractured larynx.
Robinson has been hit with a grade two dangerous contact charge by the NRL match review committee and will miss between one to two matches for her involvement in the incident which marred the opening game.
The NSW skipper stayed down and was struggling to breathe, but play was allowed to continue with Tazmin Gray scoring that set to give the Maroons a half-time lead.
Kelly was helped off the field by two trainers and Robinson was eventually placed on report, with Sky Blues players and their coach frustrated that play wasn’t stopped.
“I’m a little disappointed, actually,” star centre Jess Sergis said.
“‘Izzie’ got a forearm to the throat and is off to hospital, and then it’s football so we’ve got to keep going. But a few girls go down with cramps for Queensland and he (referee Adam Gee) stops the game. That was shit.
“But we had to adjust and I think that’s the beauty of our team that they can play in multiple positions.
“But if the game had been stopped when Izzie went down, Tazmin wouldn’t have scored. We could have got our line set. But that’s football. Queenslanders get a cramp and they stop the game.”
While the Sky Blues aren’t happy, Annesley says the referee did nothing wrong.
A sickening injury to Nene Macdonald back in 2019 saw changes put in place to better protect players after the game continued despite him staying down with a serious leg injury.
The referee must now stop play if the trainer makes a signal or if the team doctor tells officials that the game needs to be halted, but Annesley confirmed that didn’t happen on Thursday night.
“If there is a serious injury that requires the game to be stopped, there’s a process in place for that to happen. Those procedures weren’t enacted last night,” he said.
“It’s not unusual for play to continue while a player is receiving treatment in back play. In this particular incident, the game moved away from that location on the field quite quickly so the treatment continued in back play.
“In relation to serious injuries, referees and touch judges are often unaware whether an injury is considered serious or not.
“Before every game, there’s a medical briefing that takes place with the medical staff from both teams and the NRL ground manager where they talk about standard procedures to stop a game.
“That includes the trainer crossing both arms above their head as an indication that the game needs to stop. That didn’t happen in this case.
“The trainer and the team doctor are also connected by electronic audio communication so they can talk to each other.
“The team doctor is at liberty at any time if he or she needs to go onto the field to ask the match officials to stop the game. That didn’t happen in this case. In fact, the player was walked off the field by the medical staff.
“This is quite a serious injury, and while I can’t talk about the incident itself, procedures are in place to ensure players receive appropriate care and that’s discussed before every game.”
STAR OPENS UP ON ‘SCARY’ INJURY AS BLUES FUME
Martin Gabor
NSW skipper Isabelle Kelly has been cleared of a fractured larynx after she copped an elbow to the throat in Thursday night’s women’s State of Origin opener, but the focus has now turned to why play wasn’t stopped.
Kelly was struggling to breathe after she was hit in the throat by Queensland’s Julia Robinson, who put up her bumpers as she braced for contact in her side’s 18-10 win.
The Jillaroos centre was taken from the field by two trainers and was rushed to hospital, but play was inexplicably allowed to continue, with the Maroons scoring through Tazmin Gray while Kelly was in strife 60m away.
Kelly remains in hospital as a precaution as medical staff wait for swelling to subside.
She posted a message to social media, thanking fans for reaching out after the ‘scary’ ordeal.
“Feeling very overwhelmed with all the love I have received, thank you to all who have contacted myself or my family,” she said on Instagram.
“Still in ICU at hospital surrounded by the most amazing staff at Westmead, been a scary 12 hours but hopefully head home tomorrow.”
Sky Blues rookie Jaime Chapman said the message was “to do it for Izzie” as she left the field, while teammate Jess Sergis was stunned that play was allowed to continue even though Robinson was eventually placed on report.
“I’m a little disappointed, actually,” Sergis said.
“‘Izzie’ got a forearm to the throat and is off to hospital, and then it’s football so we’ve got to keep going. But a few girls go down with cramps for Queensland and he (referee Adam Gee) stops the game. That was sh*t.
“But we had to adjust and I think that’s the beauty of our team that they can play in multiple positions.
“But if the game had been stopped when Izzie went down, Tazmin wouldn’t have scored. We could have got our line set, but that’s football. Queenslanders get a cramp and they stop the game.”
Queensland captain Ali Brigginshaw conceded play should have been stopped at what was a pivotal moment in the game, while NSW coach Kylie Hilder was furious that her side had to defend with 12 players following an act of foul play.
“It’s a big concern for me when we’ve got a player on the ground in discomfort and not in a great way and she was struggling to breathe,” Hilder said.
“I am very worried and concerned about her now.
“I still don’t know why there wasn’t a penalty for that when she was hit in the throat.”
Robinson showed great concern for her World Cup winning teammate, with the Maroons winger one of the best on field with a try in each half.
“I don’t plan to go out there to hurt people even though it’s a physical game. That’s not the whole point of the game. We don’t go out to hurt each other,” an apologetic Robinson said after the game.
“Rugby league is a physical game, but we don’t want to go out there to hurt each other.
“When Izzie went down, I made sure to check on her. It’s not nice to see a player go down like that. I love Izzie as a mate off the field too, and I respect her as a person on and off the field.
“I hope she’s OK and I’m going to send her a message to see if she’s all good. It’s not nice to see a player go down, especially a player like her.”
QUEENS OF THE UPSET: MAROONS TAKE BIG STEP TOWARDS SHIELD
It was far from clinical but the Maroons are 70 minutes away from winning back the shield after the rank outsiders proved too good in front of 12,972 fans at CommBank Stadium.
Robinson was the chief destroyer with a try in each half for the Maroons against a NSW side that looked rushed in attack and struggled to execute their set plays.
Thursday’s result means Queensland just have to avoid a nine-point loss in Townsville in three weeks’ time, with their superior kicking game and poise under pressure making them the raging hot favourites.
Their job could be made easier with Sky Blues star Sarah Togatuki on report for a lifting tackle.
“It’s irrelevant. We’ve just got to win both games,” Queensland coach Tahnee Norris replied when asked whether aggregate would influence her side’s approach to game two. “We definitely know that we don’t want to drop a game ever.”
CHAPMAN’S FAST CAR
Josh Addo-Carr faces stiff competition if he wants to keep his title of fastest man on the planet, but there is no such doubt in the women’s game with Jaime Chapman showing off her incredible speed to save a certain try.
Queensland looked certain to score when Shenae Ciesiolka intercepted a Jesse Southwell pass and set off for the try line, but Chapman had other ideas.
Despite giving her rival a 10-metre head start, the NSW winger hit the accelerator and reeled her in with a tackle that will be replayed for years.
It was all for nothing, however, as Queensland shifted it to the other side of the field where Emily Bass crashed over to make it 14-6 five minutes into the second half.
Chapman was rewarded later on when she crossed in the left corner to cap a terrific Origin debut.
“That’s what you expect from a fats winger like ‘Chappo’,” her coach said.
FIRST MINUTE MADNESS
We’ve seen some bad challenges over the years, but the Maroons may have raised the bar after they blew theirs inside the opening 60 seconds on Thursday night.
It’s a good thing the scores weren’t close at the death because they wasted a potential opportunity to overturn a bad call with a brain snap just a few tackles into the contest.
Skipper Ali Brigginshaw will have to think twice about trusting Shannon Mato after the prop ordered a challenge when she lost the ball near halfway.
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