Football Australia's head of referees has gone in to bat for A-Leagues officials, insisting clubs have generally been happy with how they protect star players from cynical fouls while allowing games to flow.
This week, Macarthur captain Valere Germain quit, with Bulls chairman Gino Marra saying he had been "frustrated by the refereeing in this country".
The French forward is understood to have privately voiced concerns that he was being targeted by rival players and that officials did not properly protect him.
Referees were directed ahead of the season to raise the threshold for yellow cards and fouls to allow for a more free-flowing and physical game.
Football Australia (FA) head of referees Jon Moss noted after round 19 of this A-League Men season that 379 yellow cards had been dished out, compared with 480 at that point in 2023-24, while in the A-League Women they had dropped from 236 to 209.
In an FA refereeing briefing with media on Wednesday, Moss insisted officials had maintained a consistent approach all season, and that clubs had generally been happy with that.
"We welcome any feedback from any stakeholder," former Premier League referee Moss said when asked about the Germain situation.
"I think you can see from the statistics that we've shown and the direction of travel that we've kept to our word, what we agreed at the beginning the season, and we've worked to those parameters.
"We have discussions with clubs all the way through the season.
"Each club can have their own opinion on that, and everyone's entitled to have those views."
A-League Women coaches have at times lamented cynical fouling of key players, with Victory boss Jeff Hopkins in November saying star midfielder Alex Chidiac "gets no protection".
Central Coast coach Emily Husband remains frustrated over a reckless tackle that injured gun midfielder Isabel Gomez in November and sidelined her until Sunday.
"It's just been really unfortunate for her to sustain an injury after a stupid tackle that's put her out for 12 weeks," Husband told AAP on Sunday.
"But when referees continue to let these things go, that's what's going to happen to players - they're going to sustain injuries when they should be being protected."
Moss said referees hadn't received direct feedback from the clubs that they were concerned about how players were being protected.
"We have constant feedback, and the feedback right across the board from all the clubs has been that they've been more than happy with the way we're refereeing," he said.
"What we're trying to stamp out of the game is players falling over, cheap free kicks, we're not giving those - if every bit of contact is a foul.
"We want to protect them and that's what we said at the beginning of the season: we will let the game breathe, but still protect those skilful players.
"And the answer in refereeing is identifying that, whether it be a team tactic or individual, and making sure that we take appropriate action."
