A-League Women bosses have been urged by coaches to consider pushing back the competition's afternoon kick-offs after oppressive heat marred multiple games.
Melbourne City's clash with Brisbane Roar on Saturday started at 3pm and Melbourne Victory played Wellington on Sunday at 4pm, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees on both sunny days.
Each game had drinks breaks but neither day exceeded the League's "wet bulb globe temperature" limit that would delay a kick-off.
The League has scheduled three games at 3pm each Saturday to attract families, and offers simultaneous streaming broadcasts of the games.
A week after Brisbane forward Shea Connors suffered heat exhaustion against Canberra, Roar coach Garrath McPherson lamented another early kick-off.
"The challenge we've got is that's the third time now in a row that we've done that. So we've gone 32 (degrees), 35 and again 30 today. It just drains," McPherson told reporters at Casey Fields on Saturday.
"We've spoken to the APL and spoken to the PFA and organisations that might be able to help shift some of our game times, particularly in Queensland, later.
"Because week in, week out the fatigue element of those games just starts taking its toll."
Brisbane's home game against Western Sydney on December 17 was on Monday pushed back two hours to 4pm local time/5pm AEDT.
In the second half of Sunday's game at Epping Stadium, Wellington attacker Alyssa Whinham struggled with the heat and required assistance to leave the field.
Phoenix coach Natalie Lawrence wouldn't be drawn on whether kick-offs should be pushed back.
But Victory counterpart Jeff Hopkins said the game's quality was clearly affected.
"It (the heat) is the main factor in the game, to be honest," he told reporters.
"We had to change the way that we played in terms of the way that we pressured and pressed - I'm sure they (Wellington) did as well.
"If we want to have better quality games, maybe it's something to think about. We maybe need to push things back a little bit.
"Especially if we're at stand-alone venues as well, I don't see why we can't do that."
The players' union noted heat had adversely affected games.
"Growing and advancing the competition requires balancing a range of commercial, fan and player considerations," PFA co-chief executive Kathryn Gill said in a statement.
"The feedback from players is that this balance has not been struck in recent weekends with heat negatively impacting both the quality of the match and the health and safety of players.
"As such we will continue to work with the APL (Australian Professional Leagues) and the clubs to address these concerns."
An APL spokesperson said there were a range of inputs into the scheduling process, with the league's heat monitoring policy an important part.
