Studs-up Toby backed

GWS coach Leon Cameron doesn’t believe AFL umpires will put the boot into Toby Greene during tonight’s semifinal against Collingwood.

Greene’s unique studs-up marking technique, in which he protects his space with his feet, has been in the headlines throughout the past week. The league has made it clear to the Giants that Greene should have been penalised once in last week’s elimination final, when he kicked Nic Newman in the midriff. Greene’s actions in other marking contests at the SCG were all ticked off, with Cameron admitting there is “a lot of grey about the interpretations”.

All eyes at the MCG will be on Greene, whose importance is underlined by the fact he is yet to play in a losing side this year, but the umpires will also be under the pump.

Cameron said he would be disappointed if umpires were whistle-happy in their assessment of Greene, predicting they would judge every contest on its merits.

“I know there’s a lot of pressure on umpires and there’s going to be a big crowd,” Cameron said yesterday. “But I don’t think they’re going into the game saying ‘we must look at a Toby Greene incident’. That’s not going to happen and I’d be disappointed if it did.”

Magpies counterpart Nathan Buckley offered a straight bat on Thursday, saying: “It’s up to the umpires to work out if it’s legal or not.”

Cameron and Greene discussed the issue earlier this week. The latter agreed he must tweak his approach and can’t afford to give away needless free kicks.

“He needs to make sure that when he goes into that contest it’s fair and reasonable,” Cameron said. “But a lot of those incidents last week were fair and reasonable.

“We’ll work on it over the pre-season but right now he’s not going to be able to flick a switch and go ‘I can change just like that’.”

Cameron rolled the dice and won big last week, recalling injury-prone veteran Brett Deledio and three other fitagain players.

This week he has backed former Western Bulldogs captain Ryan Griffen to fill the immense void created by vicecaptain Josh Kelly’s injuryenforced omission.

Griffen — as with Deledio — has battled a series of serious setbacks since joining GWS in 2014.

“We have the utmost faith in him,” Cameron said.