In my eyes, the synthetic pitch certainly played a part in that.

Before half time, we had Ryan Ensor, Brendan Griffin and Yuzo Tashiro all taken off with various issues.

Several more players also picked up knocks while United were forced into two substitutions as well.

I am not saying all of them occurred because of the pitch up in Sydney. 

Injuries are going to happen. It's a contact sport and they can be unavoidable.

However, there is a fair bit of evidence to suggest some of these injuries are happening because of the quality of the surface.

It's concerning.

I’ve spoken previously about the pros and cons of the pitches.

Good or bad, it’s likely they are going to be part of our competition in some form for many years to come.

If that is going to be the case, we need to look into the standard of synthetic pitches we're using in this competition.

We need to make sure they are up to standard for playing on.

It's about player welfare.

At the end of the day that is the most important thing.

The last thing we want to see is the rate of injuries climb without best managing the situation for all involved.

If that means bringing in more stringent criteria for the pitches, then that needs to happen.

Additionally, the pitches continue to change the style of game and how players go about playing on them.

Last weekend a couple of Sydney United players abandoned boots and opted to play in indoor soccer shoes instead.

That’s not a trend we want to take off in our game either.

Thankfully we will return to WIN Stadium this weekend to play back on turf for the first time in a month.

We’re excited to get back on home soil against Bonnyrigg White Eagles, but will unfortunately be doing so with a lighter squad to choose from as part of the fall out from last weekend.

Wollongong Wolves v Bonnyrigg White Eagles

Sunday (3pm)

WIN Stadium