GREATER Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron has laid part of the blame on his own players for last week's lopsided free kick count against Adelaide, and says he'll leave any investigations into umpiring to the AFL.
The Giants were on the wrong end of the whistle in Sunday's 16-point win over the Crows on the road, with the home side well in front of the count (27-13) in front of their boisterous fans at Adelaide Oval.
St Kilda (25-12) was another travelling team to cop a raw deal in its loss to West Coast at Optus Stadium the night before, prompting plenty of talk about umpires favouring local sides because of the rampant crowd noise.
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But Cameron played a straight bat when asked about the issue on Friday and said he hadn't contacted the umpiring department ahead of Saturday's clash with Gold Coast at Spotless Stadium.
"The debate is always going to rage about home ground advantage in terms of umpiring, and it's an interesting debate, but I'm not going to buy into that," he said.
"I understand the AFL is going to have a closer look at it, but it's the hardest game to umpire and they've got so much going on.
"I feel for them every week because to make split-second decisions under that sort of heat, they do an extraordinary job.
"Clearly some of the free kicks we gave away (against Adelaide) were clumsy from our point of view."
Cameron could have been forgiven for asking some questions of the umpires following his side's upset win over the Crows, especially after star midfielder Stephen Coniglio was ruled out of the Suns clash with concussion.
The GWS vice-captain was collected by an accidental knee from Adelaide star Bryce Gibbs in the third quarter and didn't receive a free kick, despite the clear head high contact.
Gibbs was cleared by Match Review Officer Michael Christian on Monday.
"He got hit in the head, whether it was a free kick or not, that’s for you to decide," Cameron said.
Coniglio did some training on Thursday but wasn't fit enough to pass concussion protocols.
Cameron said resting the gun onballer ahead of next week's bye to give him an extra week off for the run towards the finals was never a consideration.
"We were desperate for him to play," he said.
"He's our vice-captain so we were doing everything we could for him to play.
"He's itching to play but unfortunately he won't be there.
"You're probably a 15 per cent chance to play off a six-day break, everything has to go perfectly, and unfortunately it didn't (for Stephen).
"If the game was Sunday he probably would have played."
