Greene around the gills footage
TOBY Greene appears certain to be suspended for Friday’s semi-final against Geelong after damning fresh footage emerged confirming he made shoulder-to-shoulder contact with umpire Matthew Stevic.
The side-on angle captured by broadcaster Channel 7 leaves GWS’s legal team with Mission Impossible as it prepares to defend the club’s best player at yet another of his finals hearings.
The Giants could have to make as many as four or five forced changes for their showdown against former teammate Jeremy Cameron’s Geelong at Perth Stadium on Friday night.
X-rays confirmed young gun Tom Green has broken his arm while Sam Reid (hamstring) and Isaac Cumming (ankle) are also likely to miss.
Ruckman Shane Mumford, 35, has not played off a six-day break this season and so the Giants face a delicate decision on whether their big man can back up against the Cats.
For Greene it will be another week of headlines brought about by a brush of physical contact that wouldn’t have hurt a fly.
It was only three weeks ago that former AFL football boss Adrian Anderson spent more than five hours defending Greene across a tribunal and AFL Appeals board hearing after he was suspended for striking Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield.
Interestingly, the Giants did not allow Greene to give evidence at either of those hearings and so it remains to be seen whether he will be called to the stand at the tribunal.
Greene spent almost as much time dressed in a suit
and tie as a GWS jumper during the 2019 finals series, when he was fined $7500 for making unnecessary contact with Marcus Bontempelli’s eye and then suspended for a similar incident with Lachie Neale the next week, a sanction which the Giants also failed to overturn at the appeals board.
Match review officer Michael Christian sent Greene directly to the tribunal on Sunday night as a charge of making intentional umpire contact was confirmed.
The Greene incident differs greatly to Neale’s $2500 fine for making umpire contact earlier this season, given the Brownlow medallist was pointing out he had to go off under the blood rule before play restarted. Greene also made contact with an umpire in last week’s win against Carlton, but that was deemed insignificant under AFL rules.
Greene and Giants football boss Jason McCartney will dial into the video tribunal hearing from either Barnbougle in Tasmania or Perth, depending on when the case is heard.
AFL legal counsel Jeff Gleeson is expected to argue for a suspension of at least two matches.
It appears only favourable evidence from Stevic would help the independent tribunal reach any other verdict than guilty given how clear-cut the rules are regarding contact with umpires.