Parramatta forward Kennedy Cherrington has revealed she feared she'd suffered long-term damage to her vision after fracturing her left eye socket earlier this season.
It was a simple accident where a defender’s head came up into Cherrington’s face after a routine lower-body tackle during the Round 2 loss to the Dragons.
Fast forward seven weeks and the 27-year-old was finally able to make it back on to the field for the last three games of the NRLW regular season.
Eels v Broncos - Round 9, 2026
The first was unfortunately a 44-10 loss against the Broncos, ruining the Eels run of back-to-back wins.
But Cherrington is full of gas to rip into the final two rounds against the Raiders on Sunday and then the Cowboys in Round 11.
“Lungs are great – I was well-prepared and that’s thanks to my great medical and [strength and conditioning] staff,” the NSW forward told NRL.com.
“I feel fit. That wasn’t the issue for me, it was more so my confidence after getting through a scary injury I’d never been through before.
“Usually my injuries stop me from running but this one stopped me from seeing.
“It was very, very scary because normally with an injury in rugby league you’re thinking of just a period in time.
“But this was more of a health scare, longevity, my future, type of thing.”
Match: Raiders v Eels
Round 10 -
home Team
Raiders
5th Position
away Team
Eels
11th Position
Venue: GIO Stadium, Canberra
Match broadcasters:
- WatchNRL
Specialists were warning Cherrington if the fractures didn’t heal well she might need an operation to ensure her sight was not affected.
“We kept the details quite close to us because I didn’t know up until a week ago whether I would need surgery or not,” she said.
“But thankfully no surgery so I continued to work my backside off for the last six weeks to get back to my team.”
Since the injury people have been sending her videos and photos of face masks she could wear to protect her eye socket-cheekbone area.
“Reels of Reece Walsh (Broncos fullback) and Marion Seve (Storm centre) wearing goggles and I thought ‘I’m not doing that’.
“I just backed my body to heal well as I usually do that.
“My family calls me ‘Wolverine’ because I seem to heal fairly quickly. I like my resilience in all of these occasions.
“It was good to be back out there and coming off the bench didn’t worry me as I’ve had plenty of experience in the Origin arena coming off the bench so I knew exactly my role – positive energy.”
A double dose of that positivity will come from Cherrington linking further with 2026 recruit Keilee Joseph in the Eels middle.
Keilee Joseph Try
“We’ve only played together in Pacific Championships once and a trial game this year,” Cherrington said.
“We’re very excited to play more together and she was also injured (knee) at the start of the season so we’ve missed each other a bit this year.
“Hopefully we can find some flow together now.
“We play a very similar style and complement each other well so we’re looking forward to linking over these next two games and making something happen.”
Cherrington, who is in her sixth season with Parramatta, is determined for the Eels to finish a disappointing year (2-7) on a high in these final two rounds.
“I want to see two wins – Canberra and Cowboys – we can do it.
“I think the season (11 rounds) isn’t long enough. This happened to us last year – we take a while to get a win, and then just as we’re hitting our straps and get some momentum the season is done.
“Bigger squads and longer seasons would be great, especially for teams like us with quite a young crew.
“We find our form and then we don’t play for nine months. It just ruins all that you’ve built up.”
