Roar came from behind to take the trophy for the second straight year with a 2-1 win, sealing the victory when Besart Berisha slotted home a stoppage-time penalty.

Gillett's decision to award a spot-kick for a foul on Berisha despite the apparent minimal contact sparked furious protests from Perth and it emerged in the aftermath that the official's girlfriend works for Brisbane in a part-time media role.

Sage, who was in tears on the pitch after the game, said he thought the penalty decision was incorrect even though match officials are understood to have maintained it was the correct call even after watching several replays.

He also promised to raise his concerns to the Joint A-League Strategic Committee, which he was ironically appointed to little more than a week ago.

"It (Gillett's appointment) is a conflict of interest and obviously the FFA didn't think about it," Sage said. "It's a funny one ... conflict of interest issues haven't been dealt with well by the FFA.

"We'll be speaking to the head of the referees over the next few days just to see what his thoughts are."

In addition to criticising Football Federation Australia for Gillett's appointment, Sage also said it was disgraceful that Thomas Broich was incorrectly awarded the Joe Marston Medal in the on-field presentation.

Glory captain Jacob Burns, the actual winner of the award, was later handed the prize in an off-field press conference.

"It beggars belief that that sort of thing can happen ... it was just a disgrace," Sage said.

"Can you imagine that happening in the AFL Grand Final with the rewarding of the Brownlow Medal? It just couldn't happen."

Perth led the most controversial decider in A-League history from Ivan Franjic's 51st-minute own goal until Berisha's equaliser in the 84th minute, with the striker sealing the win 13 minutes later from the spot.

Sage said he didn't blame Berisha for the heartbreaking defeat but he was less than impressed with the Albanian striker's actions to earn the penalty or his post-game celebrations in front of the Glory fans.

Berisha blew a kiss and made other gestures towards the contingent of more than 1000 Perth supporters.

"Apparently that's his nature, I've never met the man. Apparently he's a volatile, sort of emotional kind of guy," Sage said.

"The referee made the decision based on his antics and that's the type of thing we want to get out of the game. That's the style in Europe, you go down in the penalty box and you exaggerate. I think he did exaggerate.

"I'm devastated because I think our team deserved to hold that trophy up ... I think it was one of the gutsiest performances ever."

The mining magnate also said the penalty controversy highlighted the need for FIFA to 'come to their senses' and allow video technology for contentious decisions.