‘It’s ridiculous’: Knights furious as hair pull drama costs them dearly

A hair pull drama has erupted after long locks of Panthers star Jarome Luai saw a penalty that broke the hearts of every Novocastrian.

Frizell was penalised for a hair pull. Photo: Fox Sports

The Penrith Panthers have pulled off a 16-15 golden point thriller against Newcastle, but the Knights have been left fuming after a controversial hair pull penalty.

Nathan Cleary iced the game with his second field goal of the match in a performance where the Knights led the defending premiers for a majority of proceedings.

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But it was midway through the second half the controversy erupted.

The Panthers finally broke the 14-6 halftime deadlock with a penalty goal but minutes later, Knights captain Tyson Frizell was penalised for pulling Panthers five-eighth Jarome Luai’s hair.

Upon replay, it appeared as though Frizell grabbed the back of Luai’s jumper but his long hair now hangs well below his shoulders.

The penalty was consequential as two tackles later, the Panthers scored through Jaeman Salmon to even up the match at 14-all.

“It’s a tough one when they’ve got long hair,” Michael Ennis said.

“Tyson Frizell’s just trying to grab the jersey. You roll with a wild haircut, sometimes they’re going to get a hold of you.”

Warren Smith added: “You grow your hair down to your shorts you’re never going to be able to be tackled.”

Jarome Luai’s hair has divided the NRL. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

The 58th minute try was the last of the match as it went down to a field goal shootout in golden point.

After the match, Frizell said it was a pure accident.

“When his hair’s hanging halfway down his back, I’m going to try and make a tackle, it’s incidental if I do pull his hair,” Frizell said.

“It’s classified as a penalty but it’s not intentional and I’d like for him to tie his hair up.”

Frizell laughed as his final words on the matter but O’Brien didn’t see it as a laughing matter.

“It’s huge, it’s ridiculous,” O’Brien said. “Otherwise I’ll advise them all to start growing their hair long to try and get an advantage, it’s ridiculous.

“Give the players a bit of credit. They are just trying to make tackles and get people on the ground. There’s a lot of innuendo that players are out there to maim each other and pull hair. It’s not the case.”

Later in the press conference when asked about a lazy swinging arm from Lachlan Fitzgibbon on Clearly, O’Brien said: “We had penalties for bad language and for hair pulling tonight, how many do you want to have?”

Salmon scored the game-tying try. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary brushed off any talk, saying: “I don’t want to talk about referees, I think they might have got a few good ones as well.”

But fans were on the Knights’ side.

WWOS editor Ben Glover tweeted: “He tried to grab the back of his jersey and Luai’s hair was in the way. You shouldn’t get a competitive advantage based on your hairstyle.”

A fan tweeted: “If games are going to be decided on accidental hair touching Luai should be forced to wear a hair net.”

Another fan added: “If you’re gonna penalise accidental hair pulls, especially when the player has the jersey as well, then the player with the long hair should have to, in some way, mitigate the risk of it being pulled. Luai in no way should be allowed to play with his hair down like that.”