From the shaved, peroxide blonde head with a dangling rat's tail in his reserve grade days to one of his personal favourites, 'The Predator' - the luciously long, braided mullet - Mahe Fonua's wild choice of haircuts has seen him evolve into a cult figure amongst NRL fans.

Inadvertently, his unpredictability has become his trademark.

It's why he began to feel threatened when Andrew Fifita broke the copyright laws.

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Fifita, who also has a reputation for parading an untamed hair-do, was spotted rocking Fonua's signature mullet during the All Stars week and comparisons, much to Fonua's distaste, were beginning to be made.

The Wests Tigers centre was stunned when he scrolled through his social media feed and saw a photo of him pitted against his Tongan teammate with the caption 'who wore it better?'''

''I saw that haircut. He knows who started that trend,'' Fonua chuckled.

''I saw Channel Nine post on their Instagram with the caption 'who wore it better?'

''I've only been rocking it for two years and he's rocking it two months. You serious?!''

Who wore it better? 😁 pic.twitter.com/oYpNemjPm1 — NRL on Nine (@NRLonNine) February 16, 2019





The same hairdresser for both players in Tongan camp, MK Braids, toured with the team during the 2017 World Cup and is also responsible for the eye-catching styles on Konrad Hurrell and Manu Vatuvei.

Fonua is yet to book his next appointment, but as temperatures soar above 30 degrees at Concord, a trim-down is well overdue.

''I did run this little predator look for the World Cup so I might have to bring that back,'' he told Sporting News.

''I've been so close to cutting my hair because of this weather. It's like my own trademark now, I can't even cut it even though I want to cut it.

''Sometimes I wake up and I might tie it up. I might braid it, I might get dreadlocks. The fans will just have to wait and see.''

Pah. He stole Mahe Fonua’s look pic.twitter.com/u7dWsOOWSR — Josh Barnett 🇦🇺 (@v8tiger) February 15, 2019





More importantly, Fonua's is focused on the Tigers' sole trial game against New Zealand next weekend as his centre battle with Roosters recruit Paul Momirovski heats up.

''I definitely feel that competition and that's always the case with pre-season. That's where the combinations come into play and where you're right under the magnifying glass of the coach and he sees who is doing what and who is getting the better reads,'' Fonua said.

''It is all healthy competition. The coach has told us that there is no one that has cemented a spot in this team yet.''

Tigers coach Michael McGuire informed players that every single position was still up for grabs, with most of the uncertainty around the halves and left centre positions.