The blood pouring out of Kelsey Griffin's scalp has put the WNBL on notice as growing discontent about the inconsistency of referees threatens to reach crisis point.
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Griffin was busted open and required stitches to sew the split back up after she copped an elbow from Perth Lynx import Asia Taylor in their close loss on Friday night.
The WNBL is investigating the incident and Capitals coach Paul Goriss will give Griffin every chance to prove her fitness ahead of the second leg of a road trip against the Adelaide Lightning on Sunday.
But stitches couldn't cover the blood-stained jersey that has left Leilani Mitchell questioning whether referees are being held accountable after the foul on the play was called against Griffin.
"I don’t know if there is any standard to be honest, and I’m not trying to be rude or criticise the WNBL because obviously I love being a part of it," Mitchell said.
"It’s frustrating when people get hurt, and secondly it’s just the inconsistency, I don’t know if there is anyone that holds them accountable. It just seems like game to game it’s always different things for fouls.
"In the play with Kelsey, the referee that made the call was up at the top on the other side, and you couldn’t even see the other two referees in the actual play. They were nowhere to be seen.
"To me, those type of things are unacceptable. That’s why calls are missed, because they are first and foremost, not even in the proper position to see the play and make the right call."
Griffin is the second Capitals star in a matter of weeks to be on the wrong end of foul play after Canadian import Kia Nurse was left with a bruised sternum following a collision with Rachel Jarry.
Nurse was left on pain medication and was forced to miss training sessions due to the controversial off-the-play effort that earned Jarry a fine from the WNBL.
It is the second time in as many games in Perth that Griffin has been rubbed out of the game by her opposition, and she has called on the WNBL to enforce "harsher penalties" or risk further injuries.
"If the penalty isn’t severe enough, then people will just keep doing things like that which is really unfortunate," Griffin said.
"It’s not every game I go out worrying that something is going to happen. There needs to be consequences to make people think about whether they should be that physical in the game.
"I didn’t feel [the cut] to be honest, I was so caught up in the moment. It was until Kia came over and grabbed my head and showed the ref. I was like ‘what is she talking about?’
"Then as I was walking off the court I saw dots of blood. Then all of a sudden I looked down and my numbers were almost red.
"It’s the second time now playing in Perth that I have been taken out of the game, not because I was tired or needed a sub, but because physicality forcibly removed me."
