JETS coach Arthur Papas has called for match-day officials to provide more protection for Daniel Penha when the Brazilian midfielder returns from suspension against Perth Glory at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday.
The last time the two teams met, in a scoreless draw nine days ago in Perth, Penha was sent off and subsequently banned for a game after being found guilty of "serious unsporting conduct" by the match-review panel.
Papas said he felt Perth had deliberately "targeted" Penha off the ball and was concerned they would use the same modus operandi on Sunday.
"My hope is that Daniel gets a bit more protection than when we played in Perth, because the amount of fouls that he received behind play, I think there were 15 in total behind play that were literally just avoided," Papas said. "Players like Daniel need to be protected in this league.
"I expect them [Perth] to want to do the same behind play, and I hope that the referees do their job as well to keep the better players on the field and protect them with everything that is happening off the ball."
Asked if he believed that fouling Penha had been a premeditated tactic, Papas replied: "I'd assume that's part of the strategy, to target certain players.
"If everything is done within the rules of the game, it doesn't matter. If it's not within the rules of the game, that's a different story.
"I think when you've got fourth officials and referees, part of their job is to make sure they're seeing that stuff."
Papas was confident the return of the silky-skilled Penha would provide "a certain creativity" that Newcastle lacked in last week's 2-0 loss to Brisbane.
After the luxury of having a week to prepare for a game, Papas said his troops had freshened up and trained strongly and were intent on keeping their finals hopes alive.
With seven games left, Newcastle are six points adrift of the top six but hope to narrow the gap by beating last-placed Perth.
"In most seasons there is always a certain points tally that gets you into the six," Papas said.
"It's between 36 and 38 points, somewhere in that vicinity, most of the times.
"With seven games to go, we've still got 21 points to play for. We want to win all those games. You win the games, you control your own destiny."
