Football
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Brisbane's John Aloisi wants FFA to take action against A-League divers

Brisbane Roar coach John Aloisi has called for the A-League to bring back retrospective punishment for acts of simulation.

Throwing the issue into the spotlight ahead of Friday's clash with Melbourne City -- whose midfielder Neil Kilkenny has been roundly criticised this week for diving -- Aloisi said there had to be a "strong stance" taken by Football Federation Australia to eradicate it.

Kilkenny was labelled "pathetic" by Fox Sports pundit Mark Rudan for falling to the ground in apparent agony after Adelaide United's Isaias rubbed his hand in his face last week in an attempt to have the Spaniard sent off.

Aloisi said he was sure referee Peter Green would be alert to any similar tactics at Suncorp Stadium.

"I'm pretty sure if [Kilkenny] didn't get the message, the FFA, I know they're not happy about any simulation," he said.

"I was in Europe for a long time, I know that in certain countries you actually practice it, players to go down a little bit easier.

"That's not in the Australian culture, we don't want it in our game. The referees analyse games like we do, I'm sure it will be stamped out very quickly."

Aloisi said the best way to punish culprits would be after the fact, using video replays.

"You get suspended for a bad tackle, for trying to hurt the opposition, and for me this is just as bad," he said.

Two A-League players, Patricio Perez and Michael Baird, were retrospectively banned for diving back in 2010 but FFA hasn't taken similar action since.

City coach John van 't Schip said he'd personally spoken to Kilkenny about his incident.

"We all know that it's part of football but we're not supporting those actions and Neil knows," he said.

"Look, there was clearly a hand in his face but maybe he over-reacted there.

"On the other hand, I don't think we need to make a big deal of it. Enough has been said about it."

Meanwhile, Aloisi drew attention to "pinning" tactics used by City captain Bruno Fornaroli on opposition defenders, which he suspects might also be illegal.

"He likes to pin players around the box. What I mean by pinning, he actually holds you and I don't even know if that's allowed, but he does, and he uses his body well," he said.

"We've worked on how we can defend against that and hopefully the players will be able to defend against it."

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