‘Tie his hair up’: ‘Ridiculous’ penalty blasted

Newcastle Knights coach Adam O’Brien has blasted a referee decision that led to a crucial try in their golden point loss to the Panthers.

With 23 minutes left in the match, the Panthers were down 14-8 before Knights second-rower Tyson Frizell was penalised for a hair pull on Jarome Luai.

Penrith went on to score through Jaeman Salmon in the following set.

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Speaking at the post-match press conference, Frizell was originally asked for his opinion on the penalty before turning to O’Brien and saying ‘should I answer that?’

Frizell then went on to explain the incident was completely accidental.

“When his hair is hanging halfway down his back and I’m going to make a tackle its incidental if I do pull his hair, it’s classified as a penalty but it wasn’t intentional,” he said.

“I’d like for him to tie his hair up. It’s pretty hard not to grab a bit of it.”

O’Brien was stronger in his criticism of the referee to award a penalty.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said.

“I’ll advise them all to start growing their hair long, to try and get an advantage.”

The Knights coach went on to say the players deserve credit for trying to make takes inside the law. 

“They’re trying to make tackles and get people on the ground and there’s a lot of innuendo that players are out there to mane each other … it’s not the case ,” he said.

NRL Highlights: Knights v Panthers – Round 7

The Frizell penalty wasn’t the only call to go against Newcastle.

In the first half Dane Gagai was penalised, after referee Peter Gough judged the centre’s ‘f–k me dead’ rant during the play the ball as being directed at him.

A frustrated O’Brien believes the two calls were too much.

“We had penalties for bad language and another penalty for hair pulling, how many do we want to have? ,” he said.

Panthers coach Ivan Cleary was also asked for his thoughts on the hair pulling incident but didn’t wish to add any comment to the adjudication from his side’s miracle victory.

“I don’t want to talk about referees, I think they (Newcastle) might have got a few good ones too, keep it at that,” he said. 

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