Townsville Bulletin

Never do this again, Toby

- MARC MCGOWAN

GIANTS coach Leon Cameron says banned forward Toby Greene can never put himself or the club in this week’s position again, as the fallout from his umpire scandal continues.

Greene copped a threematch suspension for making intentiona­l contact with experience­d umpire Matt Stevic during the three-quarter time break of Saturday’s eliminatio­n final win over the Swans.

That came at the end of a marathon four-hour-plus hearing on Tuesday, which followed a media firestorm in the days preceding it.

The AFL wanted him sidelined for a minimum of six games and has appealed Greene’s sanction – claiming it was “manifestly inadequate” – with that hearing to be held after the grand final.

It’s the latest controvers­y for Greene, who’s been found guilty 22 times in his AFL career, resulting in 11 weeks’ suspension and almost $30,000 of fines.

But the Giants coach said that this was a very different situation to Greene’s previous indiscreti­ons.

“The disappoint­ment is he’s put himself in a position that we all know is so awkward and he was always going to be judged really hard on this,”

Cameron said.

“He’s done the wrong thing and he needs to learn from this, but that doesn’t mean we give up on Toby Greene, just because he’s done the wrong thing. I’m his greatest backer.

“I back him in and so I should – I’m his coach. I look at it like when one of your children does the wrong thing and they’ve got to apologise.

“Toby’s apologised and he’s shattered. He knows he’s done the wrong thing.

“We put our arms around him, we’ve got to educate him and we’ve got to work through some things to make sure this really hard situation Toby found himself in at the weekend never, ever happens again.”

Cameron said Greene needed to learn from this experience, as he did with previous transgress­ions.

“Some of the other things he’s gone through are pure footy incidents and we’ve got to continue to educate him on those as well,” he said.

“But this is a different one, which is why I comment that we really need to learn from this one.”

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 ??  ?? Toby Greene (main) and Giants coach Leon Cameron (below). Pictures: Getty Images
Toby Greene (main) and Giants coach Leon Cameron (below). Pictures: Getty Images

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