Greater Western Sydney star Toby Greene will not play for the Giants again this season after being handed a three-week ban for intentionally making contact with umpire Matt Stevic.
Greene had been found guilty of intentionally making contact with the umpire after earlier apologising at his AFL Tribunal hearing which lasted more than three hours.
Greene admitted contact but tried to argue about the intention.
The jury for the hearing was made up of Shane Wakelin, Stephen Jurica and Richard Loveridge. Greene was represented by Ben Ihle QC, while the AFL’s legal counsel was Jeff Gleeson QC.
Greene walked into umpire Matt Stevic, shoulder to shoulder, during the Giants’ elimination final win over Sydney on Saturday and was later charged with intentional umpire contact.
During today’s tribunal hearing Greene said that he wasn’t aware he made contact with the umpire until he was asked about it in a post-game interview.
“I do apologise for making contact and it’s certainly something that I wasn’t trying to do,” Greene said.
“I agree that it’s not a great look for the game.”
Umpire Stevic also gave evidence and an email he sent to the AFL umpires’ boss has been released which painted Greene in a reasonable light.
“Toby Greene was walking towards me as I stood stationary. As he got closer to me, he made a comment to me about an incident during the third quarter and said, ‘The player took a dive’. I was aware around this time Greene made some minor contact with me as he was walking by. I turned and responded to Toby, saying ‘No, two umpires paid it, it was high’. I considered the contact minor and didn’t feel threatened at the time,” Stevic said.
Jeff Gleeson QC made his thoughts clear on why Greene must face strong punishment and called for Greene to be suspended for at least six weeks.
“This is a serious offence and a serious moment in the governance of the game,” he said.
“The sanction should say to Toby Greene don’t do this again and to anyone who plays the game don’t do this.”
“It’s fundamental to our game … that the umpire is respected. The moment any of us deviate from enforcing that rule, because it’s hard, is the moment we change the game and the way our umpires are treated,” he said.
According to Gleeson, Greene “complained, swore, got in his face, and bumped him” and his actions were “insolent and contemptuous.”
Greene was excused from the hearing before his punishment was announced so he could make it to the airport ahead of the Giants’ flight from Launceston to Perth at 3pm.
While many current and former players came to Greene’s defence, plenty of other observers believed he needed to be rubbed out of the Giants’ semi-final showdown with Geelong.
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and Port Adelaide counterpart Ken Hinkley called on Greene to miss at least one week.
“It doesn’t look good,” Fagan said on Fox Footy.
“I don’t think we can condone at all contact with umpires, so for me I think personally he (Greene) is in a little bit of trouble.
“As much as we all love watching him play and he entertains us and brings life to the game, you just can’t do that sort of stuff.
“It’s a good reminder to everyone.”
Hinkley said Greene’s high profile and long tribunal history should not affect the outcome but added respect for umpires was a “non-negotiable”.
This is Greene’s 22nd Match Review charge in 176 games.
“You don’t abuse and you don’t go near umpires – you respect them for what they bring to the game,” Hinkley said.
“It would be a terrible game without them. It’s a difficult situation but it looks reasonably clear.”
Greene’s hearing was scheduled to start at 9am AEST, brought forward to help GWS with travel plans.
The Giants face further issues with Tom Green out for the season with a fractured radius.
Isaac Cumming (ankle) and Sam Reid (hamstring) are also in doubt after suffering injuries in Saturday’s epic elimination final while Brent Daniels (hamstring) and Xavier O’Halloran (calf) are not expected to return.
AdamDilligafThompson
Roar Rookie
Got one for you try if you like your shots, I'd forgotten about this mix for awhile until after Friday nights game, half a shot of zambucca with half a shot of chambord mixed together. Absolutely beautiful and if your not a fan of zambucca you'll be surprised the chambord takes some of the zambucca bite out of it and makes it smooth as silk.lol.
scrum
Roar Rookie
Ok - let’s suspend the umpire - all his fault. Blind Freddie can see it was deliberate- perhaps Stevic did not even think he would deliberately shoulder him- you know thought Green would have behaved in a civilised manner- stop forgiving the perpetrator
O M
Roar Rookie
Rookie or Guest? So Toby wasn’t to blame then?
AshleyH
Guest
Yes, if I was on a street corner and an enraged person was coming towards me I'm sure I'd move!
O M
Roar Rookie
What? More victim blaming? The old “look what you made me do now” defence? Pathetic!
scrum
Roar Rookie
Your comments are classic” victim blaming”. Stevic is stationary and and Green’s action deliberate- to suggest the fault is with Stevic is a joke. You are standing on a street corner and some yobbo walks directly at you and your fault if contact is made.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
Not putting your win down. It was a good one and putting you in good stead. I certainly picked the cats and expected them to win. Rest is history.
Maxy
Roar Rookie
So you beat port during the home and away season at adelaide oval in front of probably 45000 but lost the final due to ports home crowd of 20,000.I saw you liked chis lewis comment in the tips last week yattz.''would be surprised if Geelong lose to Port''.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Your honour, I put it to you that my client had done quite a bit of ‘gut running’ prior to the alleged intemperate gesture & therefore should be absolved of all accusations directed at him. If anything, the umpire provoked him. Yes, of course.
AdamDilligafThompson
Roar Rookie
It is isn't it. Although at least your getting the same break unless you go the long way round and then it would definitely advantage them. Well would help if they then get a week off if that makes sense. The turkeys been good to me tonight.lol.
AshleyH
Roar Rookie
Toby Greene had to cop a penalty. But why was umpire Stevic standing in Greene's path and why was he close to the players' huddle? Yes, Greene could have changed direction in the same way Stevic could have stepped aside. By standing his ground he appeared confrontational and provocative. This doesn't excuse Green's actions but Stevic is an experienced umpire and could of defused a potential incident by immediately joining his co-umpires for the break instead of mingling among the players. Some would see this as a clash of egos.
Tassie.
Roar Rookie
Semantics!
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
But I actually admire his play. He is good.
RT
Roar Rookie
I think he is beyond counselling.
RT
Roar Rookie
I don't know what vision you were watching Peter. He walked towards the umpire, slightly angled closer at the last moment, making no attempt to avoid him and walked into him. He couldn't possibly have not realised but didn't stop after the event like a normal person would. His post match interview didn't help him either.
Kick to Kick
Roar Rookie
The Tribunal made a finding on intent. What any of us in this comment thread ‘think’ about his intent is irrelevant. The formal finding is that Greene’s action was “intentional conduct … aggressive, demonstrative and disrespectful”. In terms of the AFL’s legal process that means it was ‘proven’. No doubt the following sentence from AFL tribunal guidelines applied . “ What the Player did is often the best evidence of the purpose he had in mind. In some cases, the evidence that the act provides may be so strong as to compel an inference of what his intent was, no matter what he may say about it afterwards.”. In other words bumping into an umpire whilst verbally abusing him is “ best evidence of the purpose he had in mind”…
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Adam that sucks week off for Prelim then a further week off prior to GF gee wiz lots of breaks
O M
Roar Rookie
I agree on all points except that we will never know if Cats could win with Toby playing.
Dave
Roar Rookie
I’m just hoping for a cracker of a game come Friday night and for GWS to absolutely throw the kitchen sink at the Cats, regardless of who wins!
RT
Roar Rookie
What?