LeagueNews.co | Jason Patrick
Queensland forward Reuben Cotter has clarified that he was not eye gouged by New South Wales Blues five-eighth Jarome Luai during Game 2, despite Luai being placed on report for the incident and subsequently charged by the NRL's match review committee for Grade 2 contrary conduct.
The situation unfolded in the first half of the game on Wednesday evening in Perth.
While footage showed Luai's hands around Cotter's eye region, the charge was specifically for "contact with the face," rather than an eye gouge.
Despite having a visible lump in the dressing rooms afterward, Cotter asserted in an interview with ABC that he "definitely wasn't eye gouged."