Three-game ban puts Greene out of finals

THE AFL Tribunal has slapped Toby Greene with a three-match ban for intentionally contacting umpire Matt Stevic and he will take no further part in the finals.

The Giants and Greene were due to fly to Perth from Launceston on Tuesday afternoon ahead of playing Geelong in a knockout semi-final on Friday night.

Greene’s penalty is a blow to the Giants’ chances of upstaging the Cats for the second time in a month – and their premiership hopes.

His contact with Stevic occurred shortly after the threequarter time siren of Saturday’s elimination final against the Swans and sparked a media storm in recent days.

Jury members Richard Loveridge, Stephen Jurica and Shane Wakelin found Greene’s actions to be aggressive, demonstrative and disrespectful and therefore he was deemed guilty of intentional umpire contact.

Greene’s ban was only half of what the AFL’S legal counsel Jeff Gleeson requested before chairman Ross Howie.

Gleeson described the incident as a “moment of madness”. “This is a serious offence and a serious moment in the governance of the game,” Gleeson said.

Greene’s representative, Ben Ihle, tried to argue for a significant financial sanction between $20,000 and $25,000, saying the lead-up media coverage of the incident would serve as a future deterrent.

In the marathon four-hourplus hearing, Greene admitted the contact was “not a great look” and apologised – but denied it was intentional.

Gleeson vigorously challenged Greene’s version of events throughout his questioning and final submission to the jury members.

He described Greene’s contact with Stevic as “insolent and contemptuous” and contended the actions were deliberate.

Greene repeatedly stated he was unaware contact was even made until Channel 7 commentator and ex-hawthorn and Brisbane footballer Luke Hodge asked him post-match about the incident.

Ihle stated in his final submission that the contact should have been avoided but “that doesn’t mean he intended contact to occur”.

Previously unreleased audio of Greene and Stevic’s verbal exchange illustrated Greene saying, “He took a f--ing dive”, in reference to a reversed free kick against him to Swan Justin Mcinerney.

Stevic was earlier grilled for about 20 minutes on his understanding of what happened.

He said he felt the contact was “minor” and didn’t report Greene, because he didn’t know if there were any extenuating circumstances.

Greene’s now been found guilty 22 times throughout his AFL career.