Giants defender Jack Buckley addresses Toby Greene’s ban ahead of tribunal hearing

Toby Greene will plead his case tonight to play against the Lions on Thursday, and teammate Jack Buckley says that incidents like Greene’s can be overanalysed thanks to slow motion replays.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. April 20, 2024. AFL Round 6. Carlton vs. GWS Giants at Marvel Stadium. Toby Greene leads the Giants onto Marvel Stadium. Pic: Michael Klein

The Giants are backing in their captain Toby Greene ahead of his hearing tonight at the AFL tribunal for a contest with Carlton’s Jordan Boyd.

Greene was handed a one-match suspension for rough conduct following an incident in Saturday night’s loss to the Blues that was classified as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.

However, the club has decided to challenge his ban, as well as a one-match ban given to Coleman Medal leader Jesse Hogan for striking, in the hopes that they will both be cleared to play on Anzac Day against Brisbane.

Key defender Jack Buckley conceded that while it’s important to stamp high contact out of the game, he felt slowing down an incident like Greene’s can often lead to overanalysing the outcome as opposed to the action.

Greene was fractionally late to his contest with Boyd and ended up colliding with the Carlton player’s head. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“It’s a tough one, you understand that right now we’re having a shift in terms of protecting the head and that’s important and we need to do that,” Buckley said.

“But also, I think it’s a split-second decision. You’re getting guys in these contests where when you slow it down, it may look like there was something in it where in reality they were just attacking the ball.

“It looks bad and it can lead to nasty collisions and we want to prevent that as much as possible. But I don’t think you can question the character of the people that are doing the acts because they are football acts but come out with a bad result.”

Buckley agreed that Greene’s position is one he had found himself in many times before, coming towards a contest as another player is tracking back.

However, he felt it’s impossible to improve technique for that scenario at training because it’s so hard to replicate. He also suggested that if they were to try and tweak it, they would be satisfied with how Greene attacked the ball in his contest with Boyd.

The Giants could also be without Hogan (L) for the match against last year’s grand finalists. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“I’d be lying if I said we were spending time on it at training,” Buckley said. “It’s one of those ones you just have kind of got to get right in the moment.

“And to be honest, I think with Toby we feel like he got it right in the moment and we’re taking it to the tribunal tonight because we think that was fine.

“That’s one where hopefully the result goes our way tonight. If it doesn’t, obviously we’ll deal with that.”

The Giants are facing the possibility of being without five of their biggest names against the Lions. Sam Taylor (concussion) and Stephen Coniglio (knee) are both at least another week away through injury, while Brent Daniels could join Hogan and Greene on the sidelines after officially being listed as a test for the game with knee soreness.

That could create an opportunity for multiple debutants for Adam Kingsley’s side as they look to add to the Lions’ poor start to the season.

Gruzewski, the number 22 pick during the 2022 draft, could be the latest youngster to line-up for the Giants. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Key forward Max Gruzewski is in line to make his debut in place of Hogan, while Darcy Jones could make his first appearance after his successful return from an ACL injury last year. Toby McMullin will also come into consideration after four goals in the VFL last weekend.

“You’ve got a squad of 40 for a reason,” Buckley said. “Throughout the year, you’re not going to have 23 blokes play every game.

“We’ve got a lot of guys playing in the reserves in the VFL at the moment who are ready to play. Whether it’s Max, Darcy or a McMullin, the list goes on, they’re ready to play AFL footy.”

Originally published as Giants defender Jack Buckley addresses Toby Greene’s ban ahead of tribunal hearing