NRL football boss Graham Annesley has backed referee Peter Gough for penalising Tyson Frizell for pulling on the hair of pony-tailed Penrith playmaker Jarome Luai.
Frizell's Newcastle were leading at home to Penrith on Saturday before the back-rower unintentionally grabbed hold of Luai's flowing locks while in the act of making a tackle.
The Penrith five-eighth writhed in pain and after Gough awarded the Panthers a penalty, they drew level and went on to claim a 16-15 win in golden point.
Frizell was dismayed and used the post-match press conference to tell Luai to invest in a hair tie.
Newcastle coach Adam O'Brien was also critical of the officiating.
Annesley said Gough had been placed in "a no-win position" but made the right call to penalise the Knights forward.
"I understand the argument that it's long hair so (tie it up)," Annesley said.
"If the referee doesn't act on that then there's complaints about the referee ignoring a player getting their hair pulled.
"It would be ridiculous for us to say if you've got long hair you've got to expect it to be pulled at some point."
"It's a difficult one for the referees on the field because they only act on what they see."
Frizell protested his innocence and was not charged by the NRL's match review committee, meaning he is free to face North Queensland on Saturday.
Annesley said there had been 15 charges for hair-pulling over the past five years, with instances of the act more prevalent in the NRLW.
