Brisbane Broncos player Ethan O’Neill copped a very nasty injury in the team’s trial win over Manly on the weekend after being on the receiving end of an accidental eye gouge.
O’Neill fractured his eye socket after Sea Eagles fullback Bailey Hodgson’s finger went deep into back rower’s eye.
The son of former NRL player Julian O’Neill, Ethan was rushed straight to Northern Beaches Hospital to be treated. After been given the diagnosis he had fractured his eye socket, O’Neill had to be driven back to Brisbane.
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The 24-year-old, who is fighting for an NRL contract this season with the Broncos, told the SMH that he felt like his “eye was on fire”.
“It’s not fun. It’s not ideal. I was trying to score a try, I tried to hit and spin, but as I spun, his hands caught me in the face,” O’Neill said.
“I immediately grabbed my eye and it was stinging. The pressure was like the pressure you feel behind your eyes when on a plane.
“When I walked to the sheds, my eyeball immediately puffed up. I was seeing double.
“I looked in the mirror and was like, ‘what the f…?’, and started stressing.
“I left hospital about 2.30am, then one of the Broncos staff took a bullet for me, hired a car and drove me back. I got home about 9pm Sunday.”
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O’Neill, who is under contract with the Burleigh Bears in the Q Cup and on a train-and-trial with the Broncos, is expected to be sidelined for up to six weeks.
He says he hasn’t heard from Hodgson yet, but is convinced the incident was “completely accidental”.
“There’s a one in a million chance of that happening,” O’Neill said.
