Luke Dahlhaus reveals his shock at copping Toby Greene’s boot to the face
LUKE Dahlhaus has revealed his shock at the moment Toby Greene’s boot flew towards his face on Friday night and says it will be “interesting” to see what the match review panel does with the incident.
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LUKE Dahlhaus has revealed his shock at the moment Toby Greene’s boot flew towards his face on Friday night.
The Bulldogs midfielder was left bloodied and was forced from the field after Greene’s boot made direct contact with his face, with the impact leaving him needing a staple in the left side of his chin that he expected would remain in place all week.
He was not knocked out and did not suffer any ill-effects in the aftermath, other than “just a couple of scratches” as the controversial act split the football world.
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Greene was immediately reported for rough conduct in the incident.
But Dahlhaus affirmed that he was “all good”.
“I just turned around and went to tackle someone and there was a boot in my face,” he told the Herald Sun.
When asked what that experience is like, the typically-nonchalant Bulldog said “it was interesting” to see the fluorescent footwear coming straight at him.
“It was a shock,” Dahlhaus said.
“Out of everything, I think I was just shocked. I got given a free kick and the umpire said ‘you’ve got to go off’ because I had blood pouring out of my face. It was just a bit of a surprise, but I haven’t seen it (the replay).”
The incident will be assessed by the match review panel on Monday. If Greene’s action is deemed to have been unreasonable in the circumstances, the action will have to be classified as either intentional or careless.
From there, the impact will be considered with the Western Bulldogs to submit a medical report detailing Dahlhaus’ condition and required treatment.
There is no disputing that the contact will be classified as high given it was above the shoulders.
Due to his poor record, Greene — who has been banned for striking on two separate occasions this year and was twice fined in the preseason competition, for misconduct and striking — will attract an extra week if the incident attracts a base sanction of two or more matches.
Should it be assessed as careless, medium impact and high contact, MRP guidelines deem the sanction will be three weeks down to two with an early plea.
If it is careless, low impact and high contact, Greene could be handed a fine of as much as $1500.
If classified as intentional, medium impact and high it would see him suspended for four games, reduced to three with an early plea.
If it is deemed to be not unreasonable, he would be let off.
Dahlhaus said he couldn't tell in the moment whether Greene’s action was intentional, but said “it’ll be interesting to see what happens” at the MRP on Monday.
The Bulldogs fell 48 points short of Greater Western Sydney with the scoreline blowing out in a second half that Dahlhaus said was out of character for the reigning premiers.
“It reminded me a bit of the game against Melbourne earlier in the year at Etihad (which the Demons won by 57 points,” he said.
“It’s just one of those ones that we have to move on from. If you dwell on it too much, it can put a bit more negativity on it than there needs to be.
“Obviously it wasn’t the greatest performance, but we’ll review it. It was just a bit out of character in the way that we finished, but to have the inside 50s that we had — we nearly had double than them — but to let them score 16 goals from 30 more inside 50s — that’s where the alarm bells are ringing.
“Hopefully it is just a once-off, and I’m sure it is. We’re a pretty quick group to regroup and sort out our problems. That’s life. That’s footy. You’ve just got to move on as quickly as possible, otherwise you dwell on it too much and the negativity can go on for weeks and we don’t need that.”
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