Greater Western Sydney defender Heath Shaw has publicly apologised for comments directed at Sydney’s Tom Papley during Saturday night’s AFL clash.
Shaw was picked up on an umpires’ microphone calling Papley a “f***ing retard”.
“I want to apologise for the insensitive comment I made to Tom Papley during last night’s game,” Shaw said in a statement released on Sunday morning via his Twitter account.
“Yes I am a fiery person who plays with a lot of passion and emotion but that is no excuse for my actions last night.
“I apologise to Tom and anyone else who took offence to my comments, I deeply regret them.
“There is no place for comments of that nature on or off the football ground. It was an offensive remark that I should never have made and for that I apologise.”
Fox Footy commentator Jason Dunstall immediately apologised after the remark was put to air.
The Giants won the fiery local derby by 42 points, but are sweating on the availability of Toby Greene after he was reported for rough conduct in a first-quarter incident involving Sydney’s Isaac Heeney.
The club must await the AFL match review panel’s assessment of the incident ahead of Friday’s clash with the Bulldogs in Canberra.
Coach Leon Cameron didn’t know about the report on Greene until he was told about it at the post-match press conference.
“We’ll look at it, see whether it was right or wrong and then you deal with it, thats all you can do,” he said.
The Giants and Bulldogs both head into their first clash since last year’s epic preliminary final game boasting 4-1 records.
“I still rate them as the best team in the competition, they are going to be really hard to beat,” Cameron said.
“We’re starting to have some great games against them and that rivalry is building which is fantastic for footy.
“Two exciting young teams going toe to toe and it’s a good opportunity to play Friday night footy.
“For us, it’s been five and a bit years for us to wait for this opportunity to display what our club is about on (a) Friday night.”
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We’re taking a look at one player from each team that needs to make a difference this week, starting with the ANZAC Day games.
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