Sivo escapes scrutiny for hair-pull on Dominic Young

Hair-pulling has returned to the NRL agenda with Parramatta winger Maika Sivo escaping scrutiny from the match review committee for tugging Dominic Young's locks in the 43-12 defeat of Newcastle.

Just after the siren sounded for half-time on Friday night, Young burst down the right wing but was pursued by Sivo, who reached up and appeared to pull his rival's dreadlocks as he made a tackle.

Young appealed to referee Chris Sutton for a penalty but none was forthcoming, despite fellow Knights players Lachie Miller, Tyson Frizell and Dane Gagai approaching the referee to voice their disbelief.

On Saturday morning, the match review committee opted not to charge Sivo but NRL head of football Graham Annesley is expected to be quizzed about the incident at his weekly briefing on Monday.

Hair-pulling became a hot-button issue after the Knights' round-seven match, when Frizell found himself on the wrong end of a penalty.

The Knights co-captain appeared to tug Jarome Luai's hair against Penrith and conceded a penalty that allowed the Panthers to march upfield and score a try that levelled the scores. The Panthers went on to win the game 16-15.

The Knights were left fuming by the call with Frizell suggesting the onus was on Luai to cut his hair if he did not want it to be pulled in a tackle.

Newcastle coach Adam O'Brien called the Frizell penalty "ridiculous" at the time but claimed not to have seen Sivo's hair-pull after the Eels game.

"It's the first I've heard of it and it's nowhere near my radar at the moment," he said after the Knights suffered their biggest loss of 2023.

Frizell also avoided scrutiny from the match review committee but in the wash-up from that game, Annesley backed the referee's decision to penalise him on-field.

A consensus on policing hair-pulling looms critical for on-field match officials ahead of the expanded NRLW season that begins in July.

Meanwhile, Brisbane centre Herbie Farnworth can accept a $750 fine for tripping Campbell Graham in South Sydney's 32-6 win over of the Broncos in Friday's later game.

Farnworth was sin-binned for the incident and received a grade-one dangerous contact (tripping) charge on Saturday morning. 

North Queensland forward Coen Hess received the same grading for his trip in Thursday night's loss to Cronulla.

Broncos veteran Martin Taupau escaped sanction for his high shot on Graham that left the State of Origin candidate clutching at his head during the first half.