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Opinion
So Toby Greene has been suspended again. Nothing new here.
Before this season, Toby Greene had been charged 19 times by the AFL, and found guilty 19 times. After this week, he now holds the VFL/AFL record for the player found guilty the most times, at an average of twice a year since his debut.
There are a couple of embarrassing aspects to this situation.
First, let’s be very, very clear. Greene plays on the edge, and plenty of people love him for it.
Greene saw the opportunity to win the ball, using what appeared to be a clumsy fend-off, but was actually a forearm and elbow that inflicted damage on the opposition’s best player.
The reaction of some of the AFL commentariat defending Greene, including and especially past players, has been laughable. It has been some misguided brotherhood, because they want to side with one of their favourites against the establishment.
We consistently marvel at Greene’s exploits when the ball is in his area. His judgement of the ball in the air, the ability to use an inch of his hip at the right split-second to work his opponent exactly where he wants him. His ability to kick a goal from a quarter-chance in a congested situation. His uncanny football instincts that sense a moment, and rise to it accordingly.
In short, his football IQ is off the charts.
(Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Yet, when Greene performs one of these actions that have seen him charged with regularity, many ex-players act as if he no longer possesses any control. He’s basically a gumby, with no control over his limbs. An open-mouthed clown at a carnival, swinging his head from side to side, with nothing between his ears except fresh air.
If you hear a commentator trying to defend Greene with any of this sort of lame nonsense, comfort yourself with the fact that they are publicly declaring themselves a simpleton. They’ve played the game. They know there are far fewer accidents on the football field than some will have you believe.
Then, of course, there is the sweet irony of Patrick Dangerfield as the victim of Greene’s action.
We only have to cast our mind back to last year’s grand final, when Dangerfield caught Nick Vlastuin’s face with a forearm and elbow.
Vlastuin was knocked out well before he crumpled to the ground. The only question at the time was whether Dangerfield would serve four or six weeks for committing such an act, especially in a grand final.
The AFL determined that Dangerfield had no case to answer, despite years of declaring the head sacrosanct.
No suspension to Dangerfield set the standard for confusion.
Earlier in the year we saw Bayley Fritsch elbow Tom Powell in a deliberate action. The MRO gave him one week, which felt light if anything. The tribunal overturned it. And now we’ve had Greene receive two weeks, which the tribunal has downgraded to one.
The actions of Fritsch and Greene were clearly less impactful than Dangerfield’s. What a mess.
Toby Greene loves pushing the boundaries and it means that every now and then he’s going to get done. It’s an opportunity cost he seems happy to wear.
But, until the AFL starts adjudicating these issues consistently, the case can still be made that, paradoxically, he’s hard done by.