Toby Greene is no grub despite his latest suspension, according to Dermott Brereton

THE jury remains out on troubled Giant Toby Greene after the AFL MRP rubbed him out for another two weeks following Sunday’s brain explosion against Richmond.

Toby Greene in action against Richmond.

Toby Greene, grub or great?

The jury remains out on the GWS Giants’ trouble-laden star after the AFL match review panel rubbed him out for another two weeks following Sunday’s brain explosion jumper punch against Richmond.

Greene is a matchwinner of rare ability but as much as he ought to be a giant headache for opposition teams come the finals, in equal measure he has become a liability for his coach Leon Cameron.

MRP VERDICT: GIANTS ACCEPT GREENE’S TWO-MATCH BAN

AFL GREATS: “LOSING RESPECT”, GREENE SLAMMED

LEON CAMERON: “WE DON’T DESERVE TO BE THIRD”

In just 111 matches, Greene has made a name for himself as one of the most cited players in the game and pound-for-pound the AFL’s most ill-disciplined figure.

However, AFL great Dermott Brereton — a man no stranger to suspensions himself — has leapt to Greene’s defence, passionately declaring the pugnacious All-Australian is not a grub.

“He’s not a dirty player. A dirty player is someone who is able to do those nasty little acts in play, while the ball is live, and do it snidely,” Brereton told The Daily Telegraph.

Toby Greene tangles with Alex Rance. Picture: Michael Klein

Toby Greene and David Astbury after the Rance incident. Picture: Michael Klein

“He’s not doing it snidely. He’s just losing himself for a second or so. He’ll stop that and he’ll be able to work it out.

“You can address it any way you want. You can give him lots of counselling, you could send him to a yoga class, you could get him to eat mung beans. It eventually just has to be him that sorts it out.

“How soon will that be? I don’t know. The Giants would hope in three weeks’ time.”

GWS are in a hole having not won a match in the past month and they’ll now have to dig themselves out without one of their most influential players, after the Giants chose not to challenge the two-match ban offered to Greene.

His bad record contributed to yesterday’s sentence and with the Giants now urgently needing to find their groove before finals time, Greene will be skating on the thinnest of ice until the season is done.

Fellow Giant Steve Johnson leads the league with 20 career citings, but that’s from 288 games.

In a top 10 worst offenders list, only Fremantle’s Hayden Ballantyne (16 citings in 146 games) has played less than 150 matches.

The rest are veterans like Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis, Nathan Jones, Lance Franklin and Lindsay Thomas.

Steve Johnson in action for GWS.

Luke Hodge in action for Hawthorn.

Greene is equal seventh with 12 citings, but with four reports this year he is building a reputation as one of the AFL’s most notorious figures.

Brereton likened Greene to a young Glenn Archer, adamant the 23-year-old can leave his bad boy image behind him and become an AFL great.

“You prefer him out there and you prefer it didn’t happen, but I wouldn’t be all that worried with him,” he said.

“To me it’s about the bigger picture and it will eventually stop.

“It just shows to me that he hates even losing at any individual contest. It shows a competitiveness in him that is a rare, rare thing and the do-gooders of the world will turn around and judge him in a dim light.

“I don’t see a great deal of difference between him and Glenn Archer when he first started to play.

“The competitiveness turned into an individual moment of raw aggression. Archer sorted it out and turned into a contested footy beast, but a model citizen by halfway through his career. I think Toby has the same capabilities.”

GWS will be without Greene for home matches against Fremantle and Melbourne, but the silver lining is fellow stars Jeremy Cameron and Stephen Coniglio are both expected back from injury.

IN THE NAUGHTY CORNER

Steve Johnson: 20 citings in 288 games

Luke Hodge: 17 citings in 301 games

Hayden Ballantyne: 16 citings in 146 games

Jordan Lewis: 15 citings in 278 games

Nathan Jones: 14 citings in 235 games

Lance Franklin: 13 citings in 264 games

Lindsay Thomas: 12 citings in 204 games

Toby Greene: 12 citings in 111 games