AFL 2021: All the latest involving Giants star Toby Greene, the umpire incident and the MRO

As rival players come to the defence of Toby Greene, the Giants star will learn his tribunal fate earlier than expected. Find out when he will face the music.

Giants star Toby Greene walks towards umpire Matt Stevic during the elimination final in Launceston. Picture Fox Sports

Giants superstar Toby Greene will learn his tribunal fate Tuesday morning.

Greater Western Sydney is due to travel from Tasmania to Western Australia on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of its knockout semi-final against Geelong at Perth Stadium on Friday night with the hearing to be heard at 9am.

Club officials were keen to have Greene’s case heard before their flight.

Match review officer Michael Christian charged Greene with intentional umpire contact against Matt Stevic during the three-quarter time break of the Giants’ one-point win over the Swans on Saturday.

The case was referred directly to the tribunal, where GWS will be desperate for its star forward to avoid suspension and be able to face the Cats.

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Giants star Toby Greene walks towards umpire Matt Stevic during the elimination final in Launceston. Picture Fox Sports

Earlier, Melbourne star Christian Petracca has joined the chorus of players calling for Greene to be let off with a fine by the AFL Tribunal as the umpire at the centre of one of the AFL’s biggest suspensions expressed his shock that such player conduct was not “gone from the game”.

After Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury suggested there would be “incoming Toby tax” and teammate Taylor Adams said “play on”, Petracca said the incident warranted “a fine for sure”.

“He is such a special part of the game,” Petracca said.

Christian Petracca says the finals need all the big names, including Toby Greene.

“It is a bad look, but it’s a big name and they need Toby Greene.

“If I was judging this I would give him a harsh fine. You need big names in finals.

“They say there’s no special treatment. Greene has been under the spotlight a few times. If that was someone else, would they get off?”

Richmond great Matthew Richardson tweeted at the weekend Green deserved a fine at the most.

Petracca said the playing field was a hotbed for all involved.

“I’ve been fined $2000 before for accidentally walking into the back of an umpire,” he said on KISS FM radio.

“They are umpiring one of the hardest games in the word. You get things right and wrong.

“I don’t think anyone has had a week off for hitting an umpire so I don’t think there are previous examples to look back on.”

However, the umpire who was pushed by Carlton’s Greg Williams in 1997 said Greene had to be suspended for the incident.

Field umpire Andrew Coates was trying to help break up a verbal spat between Williams and Essendon’s Sean Denham as they left the playing field in Round 1, 1997.

He was pushed away by Williams, who received a historic nine-week suspension for the incident.

Will Toby Greene still be smiling after his date with the tribunal?

“(I had) a little bit of surprise, really,” Coates said of his reaction when he saw Greene’s bump on umpire Matt Stevic.

“The way players conduct themselves these days, the game is completely different to near-on 25 years ago. It’s a different game.

“I thought that sort of thing is gone from the game.”

AFL match review officer Michael Christian assessed Greene’s incident as Intentional Umpire Contact, leaving a tribunal to determine his fate this week.

The Giants are due to face Geelong in a semi-final in Perth on Friday night.

“It’s hard for me to say what the appropriate penalty is,” Coates said on SEN radio.

“I think a suspension is obviously needed in the circumstance. The situation is completely different to mine. Matt was standing still and Toby just walked into him. So to me it warrants a suspension. How long that is, I don’t know. I’m sure it’s not going to be as long as Greg got. Unfortunately I think that was way too much back in the day.”

Giants face Mission Impossible to free Toby

Toby Greene appears almost certain to be suspended for Friday night’s semi-final against Geelong after damning fresh footage emerged confirming he made shoulder-to-shoulder contact with field umpire Matthew Stevic.

The side-on angle captured by host broadcaster Channel 7 leaves Greater Western Sydney’s legal team with Mission Impossible as it prepares to defend the club’s best player at yet another of his finals hearings.

The Giants could have to make as many as four or five forced changes for their showdown against former teammate Jeremy Cameron’s Geelong at Perth Stadium on Friday night.

X-rays confirmed young gun Tom Green has broken his arm while Sam Reid (hamstring) and Isaac Cumming (ankle) are also likely to miss.

Ruckman Shane Mumford, 35, has not played off a six-day break this season and so the Giants face a delicate decision on whether their brute of a big man can back up against the Cats.

For Greene it will be another week of headlines brought about by a brush of physical contact that wouldn’t have hurt a fly.

It was only three weeks ago that former AFL football boss Adrian Anderson spent more than five hours defending Greene across a tribunal and AFL Appeals board hearing after he was suspended for striking Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield.

Toby Greene will be hoping the footy gods are with him after his latest controversial incident.

Interestingly, the Giants did not allow Greene to give evidence at either of those hearings and so it remains to be seen whether he will be called to the stand at the tribunal.

Greene spent almost as much time dressed in a suit and tie as a GWS jumper during the 2019 finals series, when he was fined $7500 for making unnecessary contact with Marcus Bontempelli’s eye and then suspended for a similar incident with Lachie Neale the next week, a sanction which the Giants also failed to overturn at the appeals board.

Match review officer Michael Christian had no choice but to send Greene directly to the tribunal on Sunday night as a charge of making intentional umpire contact was confirmed.

The Greene incident differs greatly to Neale’s $2500 fine for making umpire contact earlier this season, given the Brownlow Medallist was pointing out he had to go off under the blood rule before play restarted.

Greene also made contact with an umpire in last week’s win against Carlton, but that was deemed insignificant under AFL rules.

Greene and Giants football boss Jason McCartney will dial into the video tribunal hearing from either Barnbougle in Tasmania or Perth, depending on when the case is heard.

AFL legal counsel Jeff Gleeson is expected to argue for a suspension of at least two matches.

It appears only favourable evidence from Stevic would help the independent tribunal reach any other verdict than guilty given how clear-cut the rules are regarding contact with umpires.

Stevic is one of the most respected umpires in football and his testimony will be critical.

The 41-year-old has officiated in more than 400 games, including eight of the past nine grand finals, and has been named All-Australian six times.

Greene erupted with emotion when the siren sounded as the Giants clung on by one point.

But the 27-year-old appeared lost for words when AFL legend Luke Hodge asked him about the incident moments later on Channel 7.

The magnitude of the minor touch seemed to crystallise for Greene in that interview.

Emerging superstar Sam Taylor is set to play on Tom Hawkins rather than Cameron while Jake Kolodashnij will be an eager onlooker at Greene’s hearing.

It was Kolodashnij who played on Greene when the megastar booted 4.1 as the Giants upset the Cats at GMHBA Stadium in Round 21.