"I think from our point of view, a lopsided free kick count isn't an issue," Schwab told Fairfax Media.

"A lot of clubs always talk about this so-called noise of affirmation which means the crowd has an influence. Personally I don't buy into it. I don't buy into the free kick count. The umpires go out and umpire on the basis of how the game unfolds. And they'll pay free kicks according to whether it's a free kick or not a free kick in their opinion.

"So the free kick count might be lopsided but that's no indication those free kicks aren't there or aren't correct. All I ever say is, if we're making errors, we need to look into why those errors occur.

"But there's no way known from an integrity point of view that the umpires ever look at the free kick count.

"It just can't factor in, because they're too busy umpiring the game. That's the way umpiring's always been."