Billy Slater tells Jarome Luai to get a haircut if he wants to avoid being tackled by the hair

Billy Slater has slammed the decision to penalise Newcastle star Tyson Frizell for pulling Jarome Luai’s hair as ‘ridiculous’ and urged him to get a haircut to avoid similar incidents in the future. 

The Knights second-rower was penalised for collecting some of Luai’s hair as he attempted to drag down the New South Wales star by the back of his jersey during his team’s 16-15 loss to Penrith on Saturday.

Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien branded the decision ‘ridiculous’ after the game and found a vocal ally in Slater.

‘What’s our game come to? It looks wrong, it looks spectacular so we’ve got to penalise it,’ the Queensland coach said on The Billy Slater Podcast.

‘Back when I first started I actually had longish hair, not as long as Jarome Luai’s , but it certainly got pulled and guess what I did? I got a hair cut, that’s what you do.’

Frizell (right) appeared to accidentally catch Luai’s hair as he attempted to drag him down by his jersey in the second half of the game at McDonald Jones Stadium 

Frizell struck a similar tone in his post-match press conference, suggesting Luai should tie his hair up to prevent it being caught by an opponent.

‘When his [Luai’s] hair’s hanging halfway down his back and I’m going to make a tackle, it’s incidental, I guess, if I do pull his hair,’ he said.

‘It’s classified as a penalty but it wasn’t intentional. I’d like for him to tie his hair up.’

Slater insisted referee Peter Gough would have been right to penalise Frizell had he deliberately attempted to grab Luai’s hair, but should have let play continue as it was the Knights star held the Panthers man’s jersey.

‘I think it was ridiculous it was a penalty – sure if there’s an intentional hair pull then fair enough penalise it [but there wasn’t].

‘Tyson Frizell actually had a handful of jersey, what are you meant to do? We’ve got zero common sense at the moment.’

Trailing 14-8 with 56 minutes gone when Frizell dragged down Luai, Penrith went downfield following the penalty and levelled the score through Jaeman Salmon’s try.

Newcastle retook the lead via a Tyson Gamble’s field goal four minutes from time, before Nathan Cleary got the reigning premiers over the line with two field goals in the final three minutes. 

The Knights’ fury over the decision was compounded by the fact as similar incident went unpunished during Cronulla’s 22-12 win over the Roosters on Friday night.

Sharks centre Siosifa Talakai complained he was dragged down by the hair by Roosters halfback Sam Walker, who was not penalised. 

But speaking at his weekly briefing on Monday, NRL head of football elite competitions Graham Annesley defended Gough’s call.

Frizell said after the game he felt the penalty was ‘ridiculous’ and urged Luai to tie his hair up

Sharks centre Siosifa Talakai complained he was dragged down by the hair by Roosters halfback Sam Walker during Cronulla’s 22-12 win on Friday night

‘I don’t know what else the referee could’ve done?,’ he said.

‘I get the argument about the hair is long and you’re entitled to grab a player’s jersey but this is pretty much the angle that the referee was watching the play from and that’s what the referee sees.

‘If the referee doesn’t act on that, then there’s complaints about a player getting his hair pulled,” he said.

‘The referee is in a no-win position, the referee ignores what he sees there then he’s accused of allowing a player to pull someone’s hair.’