Coach 'disappointed' with ref's reaction to ugly moment

NSW Blues coach John Strange admits he would have been "pretty disappointed" if the Maroons had scored in the second half at a time when Isabelle Kelly was down injured.

Kelly knocked the ball on when the score was 6-6 after a scrum in attacking territory. The Blues centre stayed down injured clutching at her ankle after a tackle from Shenae Ciesiolka.

"That's not good signs at all," Cameron Smith said on Nine.

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Four tackles later the Maroons had surged up the field before Keilee Joseph looked like she was certain to score.

Joseph was stopped just before the line by Yasmin Meakes and Abbi Church, which caller Peter Psaltis described as "one of the best Origin try-savers you'll see".

Kelly was then given heavy strapping over her boot as she avoided going off. The tackle from Ciesiolka was given the all-clear.

Post-match, Kelly tried to avoid giving any detail about her foot.

"Yeah it's good, should be sweet. It's not about me at the moment," she smiled.

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Strange was more open in his answer when asked about play not being stopped. 

"I'd have been pretty disappointed if they scored that try because obviously we had to collapse in on that edge where Izzy would've been," he said.

"On the replay it looked like a hip-drop but that's up to the MRC (match review committee) to have a look at that and adjudicate on it. It would've been good to have that acknowledged in the game and potentially stopped but it wasn't, played on, nearly scored but didn't.

"It was desperation from Abbi there and (Yasmin) to stop them from scoring and at the end of the day you've just got to do that because things aren't going to go your way in footy and Origin in particular, so you've got to turn up no matter what happens."

Strange also spoke on Nine's coverage post-match and revealed Kelly wasn't the only injury concern.

"Tiana (Penitani Gray) injured her knee about 25 minutes into the game," he said.

"She didn't want to come off. We're going to have to get her scanned. Hopefully she's OK."