James Tamou admits he's still "learning" about how to deal with the NRL referees as he comes to grips with being a club captain for the first time in his career.
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Tamou was embroiled in a half-time incident two weeks ago when Penrith coach Ivan Cleary was alleged to have approached the referees in the tunnel.
Cleary was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing by the NRL and later explained he was trying to talk to Tamou, who was in dialogue with the referees at the time.
"I was so surprised that so much was made of it," Tamou told AAP.
"I actually didn't hear Ivan say a thing. I was obviously talking to Klein (NRL referee Ashley Klein) there but I didn't hear Ivan say a thing. It's almost comical the way it's come out."
The incident was a flashpoint in what has been some growing pains for Tamou since officially taking over the captaincy in April.
The veteran front-rower was initially part of a six-man leadership group appointed by Cleary in February, only to be promoted as sole skipper two months later.
It is the first time in his 11-year career that Tamou has taken on the responsibility and the 30-year-old concedes there have been trying times.
His comments come in the same week NRL head of elite football Graham Annesley warned players to back off from backchatting with the referees.
"They've obviously got a job to do, but it's my job to bring their attention to certain things," Tamou said.
"But yeah, it's more of a learning curve this year and obviously having Jimmy Maloney there, I'm learning a lot. There's still some things I've got to work on."
The Panthers enter Friday's crucial game against Cronulla without Maloney, who has been suspended for a week after being found guilty of tripping.
The grade-one offence normally carries a monetary fine, but the experienced playmaker has already reached the limit of three fines in a single season.
Cleary suggested the NRL could look at changing the system in the future, given the enormity of the game for both the Panthers and the Sharks.
"Only because I think anyone who looked at that incident with James last week, I don't think the game wants that - a player to miss a really key game," Cleary said.
"That's where the fines came from in the first place, where we didn't want players missing (State of) Origin games or semi-finals for those types of incidents.
"But I understand that rule was made in case guys are just constantly getting charged. I guess the key to all that is not get charged I suppose."
Australian Associated Press
