“I do have some grave fears of what’s happening to Tayla out there on the court every week,” Dickel said.

“Teams are getting very physical with her, so we’ve got to learn to deal with it a lot better, I guess. 

“But also, we’ve got to be a little bit more proactive with the referees on that.”

The 195cm power forward has this year become one of the SEABL’s standout female players after vast improvements from a breakout fifth WNBL season over summer.

Roberts has jumped from 15.7 points per game average – 18th player overall – last year to 21.71 points and second best in the league.

Her career average over 147 matches was 14.0 points.

The 24-year-old has this season lifted her averages in rebounds, assists and steals.

The strong numbers have, however, earned Roberts close attention and scrutiny from rival defenders that raised the ire of her coach since taking over on May 18.

“I’m not saying it’s the referees’ fault – I am not blaming them at all,” Dickel said.

“But the way she is getting beaten up, grabbed and pulled week after week, we’ve got to learn a way to deal with it better.”

Roberts notably had been double-teamed on Saturday against Canberra that led to 17 points and eight rebounds.

SEABL operations manager Mark Quinn said the club was welcome to submit “clips” of offending players.

“There’s avenues in place that all coaches are aware of that they can undertake feedback on players being judged like that,” he said.

“At this stage, we’ve had no feedback, no phone calls nor no emails from Richard.”