Jets boss concerned with penalty count

Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond has expressed his concern at what he believes is an emerging trend of 'milking penalties' in this season's A-League.

In the four matches played last weekend there were six penalties including two in Newcastle's 3-3 draw with Perth Glory, which signalled alarm bells for the Jets coach.

"We saw a sharp increase in the number of penalties," he said. "For the round we had two penalties in our game, Sydney had a penalty in their game, Wellington had two penalties in their game and Adelaide had a penalty in their game."

"I believe the round we just had was a good round with plenty of goals and plenty of fair play, but I just hope the referees don't get coaxed in regards to players being kicked or not kicked."

"For penalties to be in each and every game of last week's round I suppose it is something which the referee's look very stringently at to ensure that obviously that players are being protected but not to the degree that they are falling into the trap of players are miking soft free kicks in areas that present goal scoring opportunities."

Van Egmond indicated that the Australian style of football was being influenced by the style of play in other countries.

"I think we watch the European games and we watch the South American games and obviously we have a large South American contingent here and that (milking penalties) is one area that we don't want coming into our game," he said.

"We are pretty honest in regards to how we want the games to be played with all codes and football is not different."

Last year's coach of the year also expressed concern about raised arms at set pieces and called for officials to be on guard to curb the trend before it becomes a problem.

"There is also the problem of arms up in the air at corners," he said. "There has been a real edict this year about the arm or elbow coming into contact with the face of an opponent."

"But if there person's arms are up at set pieces then it can do nothing else when they come down but be in contact. It is something else that we need to watch out for and not let it creep into our game."