To see today's finals launch in Sydney...

Merrick hit out after striker Robbie Kruse's suspected broken leg in a cynical Terry McFlynn tackle on Sunday.

Kruse is yet to learn his fate after undergoing X-rays on Monday afternoon but is almost certain to miss the remainder of the A-League campaign.

And Merrick, still smarting from his side's hard-fought 2-0 loss to Sydney FC which saw the Sky Blues seal a maiden Premiers Plate, is demanding action.

"The disappointment and frustration I have is of incidents on the field (not) being dealt with on the field," Merrick said at the official launch of the A-League Finals in Sydney.

"He (Kruse) in particular has had three incidents and out of those three incidents there's been one yellow card handed out on the field, the rest has occurred after the match.

"So we lose a player and that's it. And that's really disappointing, especially when two of the incidents occurred within 10 metres of the fourth official.

"The FFA have to sort something out to protect all players on the field of play."

Asked if McFlynn's tackle warranted more than a yellow card, Merrick quipped: "That's up to the FFA and the judiciary to decide but if that was Kevin Muscat making the tackle, it'd be all over the newspaper.

"One thing that very much annoys me is when people say that obviously Robbie Kruse is doing something wrong.

"The boy has hardly ever been yellow carded and the victim is not the one who's in the wrong here ... it's not about the victim, it's about the perpetrators."

While still seething over the controversial tackle, Merrick insists it will not serve as added motivation ahead of Thursday's opening leg of the major semi final against the Sky Blues at Etihad Stadium.

"We don't use words like revenge it's all about playing our best football," he said.

But Sydney FC striker Alex Brosque, who strongly defended McFlynn's actions, is not convinced.

"Things like that might add to the game, add a bit of spite," Brosque said. "They will definitely be looking for revenge. They may use that tackle as motivation. That just spurs you on.

"They are playing down the word revenge but I think it's their main focus for this week. It was a smart foul. Kruse got away from us and Tezza tried to bring him down to slow the play down.

"They (the judiciary) are looking into Tezza's tackle but there was no real malice in it. It was just one of those unfortunate things.

"Terry just tried to slow the play down - I'm sure any one of their players may have done the same thing - it was just the way his ankle buckled that was unfortunate."

Brosque revealed the Northern Irishman attempted to apologise to Merrick after the match without success.

"Tezza wasn't the same as he normally is after a win and he actually went up to Ernie and tried to apologise (but) from what I hear Ernie wasn't too happy about it," Brosque said.

"And that's upsetting to see because Terry didn't have to go up and apologise, he could have let it be. Terry didn't mean to hurt him and tried to offer his apology and it wasn't accepted.

"I don't think he's got anything to worry about."

Merrick added when asked to confirm McFlynn's attempted approach immediately after the game: "I've got no comment to make on that."

To see today's finals launch in Sydney...