It was hard not to notice Jason Johannisen’s new haircut on the weekend.

But Jake Stringer has revealed to Fox Sports News that the speedy half back’s shiny new look was less by design and more by necessity.

Johannisen had been sporting a bleached-do to rival New York Giants’ wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr, so when he took the field looking like the second coming of Nathan Eagleton, it got tongues wagging – was this the plan all along?

Definitely not, according to Stringer, who said he got a bit of shock when he saw Johannisen pre-match.

“He took the hat off and it was a bit silver, and I said, mate you’ve got to shave that,” Stringer said.

“[But] we had half an hour to get to the ground.  So he whizzed home and got the clippers out.

“He’s like, ‘I’ll do a two’ - He did the two and it didn’t do much so he had to go the full bald nut.”

Whether the new look impacted his game, we’ll never know, but Johannisen’s 35 disposals were a career high.

“He’ll probably do that every week now,” Stringer said.

“The front looked all right but I’m glad he shaved it because you wouldn’t have liked it on the TV screen.