Bulldogs star Jaeman Salmon reveals the team punishment that left him with bleached blond hair

Jaeman Salmon bleached blond hair isn’t a fashion statement. It’s the result of a team punishment, and there is a very expensive reason why the Bulldogs star is stuck with the eye-catching hair do.

Jaeman Salmon’s bleach blond hair is not a fashion statement.

It’s the result of a team punishment that ended up being more expensive than the fine for the initial crime itself.

Salmon was first spotted sporting the eye-catching hairdo in Round 4 against the Cronulla Sharks.

Six days before that after playing Parramatta, the 26-year-old had made what would be a costly rookie error.

The forward had forgotten to hand in a form that NRL players are required to fill out after each game that helps clubs collect details around any injury concerns and game performance.

Salmon’s forgetfulness triggered the club’s team punishment system.

Canterbury's Jaeman Salmon has caught eyes with his blonde hair. Picture: NRL

He had three options – pay a fine, shave his head or dye his hair.

“Yeah, the hair, it is actually just a little club punishment. There is a little form that I was meant to fill out after the game (against the Eels) that I forgot to do … I was meaning to do it, but then just forgot it. It was my bad,” Salmon told this masthead.

“But we have punishments for things like that around here.

“It was that I either dye my hair, shave it or pay a fine. I’ve had a shaved head before plenty of times and didn’t really want to do that, so the only other option was to dye my hair.”

But rather than rely on a box dye, which would have set Salmon back around $20, he decided to book an appointment with a hair stylist.

That decision would end up being a bigger hit to his hip pocket than the fine.

“Believe it or not, I actually decided to get it professionally done. I just thought to myself, that if I was gonna cop that punishment, I might as well get it done properly and by someone who knows what they are doing.” Salmon said.

“The thing is, I ended up paying $300 bucks to get it done … that’s the thing, the irony in it all is that the fine was only $200. So I could have paid to get out of it.

“But I had never had my hair done before, other than a cut, so when I sat down in the chair I didn’t know how expensive it would end up being.

“So when they finished up, and they go ‘righty-ho, that’s going to be $300’, I was like ‘are you kidding me? $300?’.

“I honestly thought at most it would be $80 bucks.”

Team punishments, some brutal and some wacky, are commonplace in the NRL and are put in place to ensure players stick to clubhouse rules.

Jaeman Salmon. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Forgetting to fill out forms, turning up late to training and even poor defensive performances can leave players facing a punishment.

At Penrith, punishments are left to the roll of a dice, where numbers correspond to penalties like eating a bird’s eye chillies or posting an embarrassing selfie on social media.

Storm stars Cameron Smith, Cameron Munster and Brandon Smith have all been forced into the same hair do over the years as Salmon after failing victim to Melbourne’s spinning wheel of punishments – which also includes boxing sessions or becoming the team’s water boy.

Salmon will run out onto Accor Stadium on Friday night against South Sydney sporting the same blond locks in front of 70,000 fans.

The former Penrith premiership winner wants to ensure he gets his money’s worth.

“I think I have to let it grow out to be honest with you,” Salmon said.

“If I try to dye it back it will probably look like an unnatural brown colour. I’m kind of sick of it already but I guess it has to stay, I did fork out for it.”