Keeley Davis moves on from Origin eye-gouge saga
Jasper Bruce |
Keeley Davis insists she has moved on from the State of Origin eye-gouge incident, adamant the saga won’t make things personal when NSW fight to seal a series victory in game two.
Davis lodged an official on-field complaint during her side’s 32-12 game-one win last Thursday, though was unsure which Queenslander had been responsible for the alleged shot.
The 24-year-old doubled down at full-time, insisting she had felt an eye gouge.
But when the match review committee could not find conclusive video footage, Davis agreed not to risk a drawn-out judiciary process by pursuing the matter.
Taking the case to a judiciary hearing would’ve meant waiting five days for closure and there are only two weeks between women’s Origin games.
“We decided it’d be best to focus on game two and really put all of our energy into that,” Davis told AAP ahead of next Thursday’s Origin II in Sydney.
“It’s not really controllable what’s happened in the past.
“The NRL did what they had to do, with their side of things and followed their processes so we were really happy that got done. For us, it’s what we can do now and that’s focus on the next game.”
Davis had first gestured to her eye following a hit from Maroons forwards Keilee Joseph and Romy Teitzel during the first half of Origin I.
But privately, the match review committee felt the incident may have occurred on the previous tackle from second-rower Sienna Lofipo.
Regardless, Davis said there would “absolutely not” be a personal score for her to settle with the Maroons when NSW attempted to reclaim the shield before home fans on Thursday night.
“It has no impact on the way I’m going to play,” she said.
“I feel like my approach to the game is always the same and that’s doing absolutely everything I can do to win and making sure that I play at 100 per cent with my effort and making sure I prep well.”
Origin I was played before a record crowd of 26,022 on the eve of NRL Magic Round last week but there are fears the second game may only attract half that number to Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.
A women’s Origin match has never been played at Allianz Stadium but the last fixture in Sydney brought 12,972 fans to CommBank Stadium for the 2023 series opener.
Davis, who plays home NRLW games at Allianz Stadium with the Sydney Roosters, said the stadium would be pumping for Origin.
“The atmosphere there can be really, really good so I’m super excited to be doing it on home turf at that stadium,” she said.
AAP
