Julia Robinson, the Queensland winger whose elbow collected Kelly's throat, insisted the shot was accidental and said her thoughts were with the centre, who has been cleared of a throat fracture but remains in hospital as of Friday morning.
The incident occurred as Kelly attempted to tackle Robinson just before halftime of the Maroons' 18-10 win at CommBank Stadium in Sydney and left the skipper on her haunches coughing up blood and struggling to breathe.
Blues trainers attended to her as play continued down-field, where Queensland forward Tazmin Gray capitalised on the personnel advantage to score a try and seize the lead for the Maroons.
Referee Adam Gee placed Robinson on report after the try had been scored, but NSW received no penalty and trailed for the remainder of the game.
"If the game was stopped when Izzy went down, Tazmin wouldn't have scored and we could have got our line set," Blues winger Jess Sergis said post-match.
Kelly was taken to hospital during the game and NSW coach Kylie Hilder admitted the incident had rattled her side, which gave up two more tries in the 10 minutes after halftime.
"There was a lot going on in the sheds. An ambulance came in for Izzy," she said.
"It wasn't great, she was in a lot of discomfort so there was a fair bit of noise coming as well."
Hilder was miffed as to why play was not stopped despite the clear seriousness of Kelly's injury.
"It's a big concern for me," she said.
"When we've got a player on the ground in discomfort and not in a great way. She was struggling to breathe.
"I am very worried and concerned about her now. I still don't understand why there wasn't even a penalty for that, when she was hit in the throat."
Sergis questioned why Gee stopped play in the second half when Queensland's Emily Bass and Evania Pelite suffered less serious injuries.
While Pelite eventually left the field with what appeared a foot concern, Bass played on.
"I'm a little disappointed," Sergis said.
"Izzy's gotten a forearm to the throat, she's headed off to hospital.
"But a few girls go down with cramps in Queensland and he stops the game."
Robinson said her thoughts went out to Kelly, with whom she played on Australia's run to World Cup glory last year.
"Obviously rugby league is a physical game but we don't want to go out there and hurt each other," she said.
"When Izzy went down, I made sure to check on her. It's not nice to see a player go down like that and I love Izzy as a mate off the field. I respect her on and off the field so I hope she's OK."
While Kelly is at long odds to return for the second game of the series on June 22, winger Tiana Penitani is likely to come back after suffering a hamstring strain at training during the week.
"If we had've pushed (Penitani) tonight, she'd probably have been out for six to eight weeks," Hilder said.
"It wasn't worth the risk."
Forward Simaima Taufa is also on track to play for the Blues in Townsville, having missed the first game with a shoulder injury.
