Knights fume over hair pull that went unnoticed, Panthers star set to sign long-term deal

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Newcastle’s fury over the decision to penalise Knights back-rower Tyson Frizell for his accidental hair pull on Jarome Luai has been compounded by revelations that an almost identical incident went unpunished in the Roosters-Sharks clash on Friday night.

The decision to penalise Frizell, who attempted to drag Luai down by the back of the jersey and collected some of his hair, came at a crucial time in the match at McDonald Jones Stadium. It came barely 24 hours after Sharks forward Siosifa Talakai said he was dragged down by his locks by Roosters playmaker Sam Walker.

Sifa Talakai complained that he was brought down by the hair by Sydney Roosters halfback Sam Walker on Friday night.

The Knights were leading 14-8 in the 56th minute when the incident occurred, with a penalty allowing Penrith to go downfield and equalise through bench utility Jaeman Salmon, paving the way for Nathan Cleary to steal the game with a pair of clutch field goals.

“When his 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,” Frizell said.

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

Frustrated Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien said that he would advise his players to grow their hair to get an advantage if that was the standard for a penalty.

Tyson Frizell was penalised for pulling Jarome Luai’s hair.Credit: FoxSports

The NRL was sitting on the fence about the issue when asked on Sunday. Head of football Graham Annesley will do his weekly football briefing on Monday afternoon.

You can be assured the Knights will be asking for a please-explain over a call that swung the game in favour of the Panthers, when it went largely unnoticed at Cronulla just 24 hours earlier.

Martin latest Panther to re-sign

After a week of speculation surrounding the futures of star duo Luai and Dylan Edwards, the Penrith Panthers have quietly moved to secure another of their international representatives.

The Herald can reveal the Panthers are on the verge of securing injured back-rower Liam Martin on a multi-year extension as part of the club’s recent retention spree.

Make that two premierships and counting: Liam Martin and Dylan EdwardsCredit: Getty Images

Martin, who only last year signed a one-year extension to keep him at the club until the end of 2024, has returned to the negotiation table in the past couple of weeks to secure his future.

It’s expected the NSW and Australian back-rower will remain at the club until at least the end of 2027. He will become the third player in the past month, joining skipper Isaah Yeo and prop Moses Leota, to extend his deal long-term. Cleary and Brian To’o are also contracted until the end of 2027.

All the talk last week surrounded the possibility of one of Edwards or Luai having to leave the club. That remains a real possibility given the investment in Martin on a long-term deal. An announcement is expected over the next fortnight.

Tigers on brink of unwanted history

The Wests Tigers need a win to avoid going down as one of the worst teams of the NRL era. The Tigers haven’t won a game of football since the victory over Brisbane on July 30 last year (round 20) and are currently sitting on an 11-game losing streak.

They currently sit in seventh position on the list of the longest losing streaks in the NRL era. The worst streak belongs to the Knights, who lost 19 straight games spanning across 2016 and 2017.

The scary thing for the Tigers is that if they hadn’t beaten Brisbane in round 20 last year, they’d be on their own 19-game losing streak. The club have managed just four wins in their past 33 games. They haven’t won a game with Luke Brooks in the No.7 jersey in their past 16 games.

Longest losing streaks of the NRL era

• 19: Newcastle Knights (2016-17)
• 14: Gold Coast Titans (2019-20)
• 13: North Queensland Cowboys (2008)
• 13: Brisbane Broncos (2020-21)
• 13: Cronulla Sharks (2009-10)
• 12: South Sydney Rabbitohs (2006)
• 11*: Wests Tigers (2022-23)

It won’t get any easier coming off the bye, either. The Tigers take on the high-flying Sea Eagles before squaring off against Ivan Cleary and his back-to-back champions in Bathurst. You’d think the drought is most likely to end the week after against the Dragons in Brisbane at Magic Round.

It seems things are as uncomfortable off the field as they are on it. Balmain legend Garry Jack’s attack on the Wests Tigers’ new recruits last week made for some awkward moments at the club’s inaugural Heroes Dinner at Wests Ashfield Leagues Club on Thursday night.

In the days leading up to his appearance at the event, which at $220 a ticket raised funds for the club’s elite development, Jack criticised Api Koroisau, prop David Klemmer and back-rower Isaiah Papali’i through comments made to The Daily Telegraph.

He claimed Klemmer “couldn’t knock the skin off a rice custard”, Koroisau “looks like he doesn’t want to be there” and Papali’i was “not half the player he was at Parramatta last year”.

You could imagine Benji Marshall and Tim Sheens would have liked to have given Jack a piece of their mind, but bit their tongues.

Wests Tigers life member John Skandalis, who was also in attendance at the function, didn’t hold back, blasting Jack on social media on the eve of the function hosted by Fox Sports’ Yvonne Sampson.

“Can live with the media kicking us while we are down,” Skandalis, a Wests Tigers employee, tweeted.

“But coming from a former player that should be supporting us in these tough times is poor. How about you come and show some love instead of jumping on the Wests Tigers bash up wagon #sheep.”

Former teammate Bryce Gibbs praised Skandalis for his stance.

“Love your work Skando!! #BROTHERS,” he tweeted.

Hunt hooked over Griffin comments

A Dragons official had a quiet word with Ben Hunt over comments he made at a press conference last week. No one at the club has an issue with the skipper supporting his close friend and coach Anthony Griffin, but he overstepped the mark by using his future as a threat to club powerbrokers when he claimed he would reassess his position at the Dragons if Griffin was axed.

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