GWS Giant Toby Greene to be aggressive against Brisbane Lions
The GWS Giants are proud of the way Toby Greene plays and won’t try and curb his aggression as they face the “cutthroat situation” of a second straight AFL elimination final.
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GWS coach Leon Cameron says he is “proud” of the way controversial midfielder Toby Greene plays and expects him to be his aggressive self in this weekend’s final against Brisbane.
Greene has come under fire for his questionable antics against the Western Bulldogs last weekend in which he somehow escaped a suspension and was instead fined $7500 for serious misconduct for attacking the head of the Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli.
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The Giants star has now racked up a bill of more than $26,000 at the AFL tribunal over the years but will cop a hit to the back pocket for the chance to play in Saturday’s elimination final against Brisbane at the Gabba.
Cameron has talked to Greene about the Bontempelli incident and said a line had been drawn under the saga, but he didn’t expect his star to suddenly change his whole approach.
“We’re proud of the way he plays and he’ll play an aggressive brand of footy this weekend,” the Giants coach said.
“We had a really good chat. No doubt, Toby put his hand up and pleaded guilty because he probably went a little bit too far. But in saying that the game was a tough and hard game.
“He’s copped the fine and moved on. We’re not always going to make the perfect choices. He gets nine things out of 10 right most of the time.
“We sit in a cutthroat situation. We need to bring an enormous amount of intensity at the footy and the man with the footy because that’s the way we think we can win the game.
“That means that everyone buys in. All 22 have to make sure that we play with a really intense brand of footy.
“There’s no wake up Sunday with a second chance.
“Most weeks there’s always going to be some sort of fine across the 18 sides in the competition. We had a couple on the weekend. Did they push the limit a little bit because it’s finals and it takes you to another level? Probably. But in saying that we need our players to go hard at the man with the ball and hard at the footy themselves. Because Brisbane are going to do it. People are just talking about our ferocity and tackling the footy on the weekend but Brisbane have been equally outstanding in the contest.”
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Cameron is expecting a cracking game for those watching the battle.
“So you’re just going to get two teams where it’s a war of attrition and it’s the last man standing over 120 minutes of finals footy which I think the purist watching the game loves to watch that,” he said.
“There’s going to be 44 players playing on the edge on the weekend because it’s a cutthroat final.”