Firebrand Toby Greene’s search for atonement at GWS Giants

Toby Greene knows fans don’t like him. But now he says he wants to earn the respect of the football world.

GWS Giants forward Toby Greene. ‘I don’t have any regrets. I don’t try to erase it from my memory. I take it in my stride. It was a great learning curve,’ he says of the finals last year. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Toby Greene knows he did the wrong thing. He feels remorse for raking his hand across Western Bulldogs rival Marcus Bontempelli’s face last September.

In a candid interview Greene remembers how the hits were brutal that day, how that finals contest was bloody against the Bulldogs, and for the first time reveals how that Bontempelli moment unfolded in his own eyes.

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Greene says he saw red after Bontempelli’s “nasty tackle” on Giants teammate Brett Deledio. He felt rage and we now know he couldn’t control it, pulling at Bontempelli’s hair and face.

“It wasn’t like it was something I had planned to do during the game,” Greene said.

“Lids just got dump-tackled, it was a nasty tackle and I just reacted in that matter. Emotions were pretty high that game … I definitely overstepped the mark in my reaction.

“I don’t think it was within the spirit of the game — I might be sounding hypocritical there. But I understand it is a shocking look for AFL, especially in a finals game when everything is magnified and the whole of Australia is watching. It’s not a great look. I definitely have remorse for it. But I can’t change it now. Hopefully it doesn’t rear its head again.”

In a wide-ranging interview, a candid Greene, who’s been dubbed an “AFL bad boy” and “GWS villain”, opened up on why he needs to bring his game a little back “from the edge”.

Greene also spoke honestly about some forgettable chapters of last September, which included being mercilessly sledged during a grand final parade, booed non-stop on grand final day, in a game in which his team were humiliated, and concluded with news his father had been arrested for assaulting a police officer.

Toby Greene cuts a dejected figure after the Giants’ loss to Richmond in the AFL grand final last year. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Greene also revealed to The Weekend Australian his father’s subsequent release from jail last Wednesday.

While last September delivered some lofty finals highs such as winning lead-up finals against the Dogs and Brisbane, and his tight-knit mum’s side of the family, including 20 cousins, fronting up to the grand final to cheer him on, there were forgettable moments; like being called a “dog” and “c..t” for several kilometres during the grand final parade.

“I knew what was coming,” Greene said, with a grin. “I would have been happier for them to drive the car a bit quicker, there were people three metres away just abusing me. After two kilometres, I thought; ‘this is quite shit’. But it’s all part of football, it’s tribalism, I knew it was coming.”

While Greene brushes it off, his friend and Giants captain Stephen Coniglio doesn’t hold back.

“That week was supposed to be the best week of his life, but having to sit there in that grand final parade, being abused for an hour and half, then what happened with his dad,” he said. “Walking to the airport, on the street, he was copping it everywhere.

“When adversity hits, Toby plays his best footy, which says a lot about his character. But when the game is over, there’s a personal toll it takes .... and on their family. Imagine that many people booing your son?”

Toby Greene’s scrap with Marcus Bontempelli.

If you ask Greene’s mum Kate, the politely spoken private school teacher notes the issue of booing isn’t really just about her son — but plays to a broader issue of showing respect to all players.

“You never really know what someone else is going through,” Kate said. “I think people should show just a little bit of humanity and be kind to each other.

“We live in a day where there are a lot of mental health issues. You really don’t know the long-term effects of booing. We have seen this with Adam Goodes ... and he was (racially) booed. It’s a nasty element of the game. It is a small group but it is unnecessary and hurtful.”

But Greene says he has come through that turbulent September more than OK — and the events of that month may have well have changed him for the better.

“The first three weeks were amazing to be part of, and the last week? Yeah, well that was one of the worst weeks you could ever have,” Greene said. “But I don’t have any regrets. I don’t try to erase it from my memory. I take it in my stride. It was a great learning curve.”

Giants coach Leon Cameron said his star player knows now what needs to be done.

“He has put his hand up and said, to change the perception of me, I need to make sure my behaviour is right on the ground. He would be the first one to say that.”

Cameron adds: “To earn the respect of the footy world. That’s his ultimate aim.”

Last November at the request of the Giants, Greene and coach Cameron headed to AFL House to have an open discussion with the game’s head of football Stephen Hocking.

It was not a “visit to the principal’s office” more a frank discussion about how to keep one of the biggest AFL stars in the game on the field rather than serving time off it.

“The message from Stephen was that it was beneficial for the Giants, for myself to be out on the field,” Greene said. “I want to be out there myself, so it is probably up to me to be doing that.”

In the conversation, Hocking likened Greene to another combustible figure of the game, former Geelong and GWS star Steve Johnson, who just so happens to be a close friend.

Greene knows clearly what he needs to do this season.

“I don’t think it is hard to bring my game back from the edge ... the things I got in trouble with last year were stupid, unnecessary,” Greene said.

“It’s not going to change how I attack the ball. I probably talk a fair bit of tripe on the field. The more emotion in a game, the more everyone is amped up. I know how much scrutiny is going to be on me this year. I know what I can’t do. I will be trying not to get close to that line — teetering on suspension. I got sick of missing footy games. I wouldn’t mind playing every one this year.”

Just a few days ago Greene’s phone rang. It was his dad Michael calling because he had just got out of prison.

His father, who has dealt with substance abuse and mental health issues in the past, had been put away for six months for assaulting a female police officer on grand final day.

“I spoke to him briefly on the phone, just checking he was all good,” Greene said. “Hopefully it is something that could spark a turning point in his life for him, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

“He said he never wanted to go back. Hopefully that never happens again. I just see the impact it has had on my mum and family. I hope it is something we all never have to go through again.”

Kate, who raised her three boys in a steady environment with her second husband Bruce, preferred not to comment on the incident. She did say her son had shown incredible resilience in recent months, supported by herself and Greene’s girlfriend Georgia.

“He knows he has a lot of positives in his life. Yes, it was a negative, but it was beyond our control,” she said.

“Last year had been a painful time for our family, with my sister’s son Finley dying in June. It rocked our family, but we had a great day, with our family coming together on grand final day to support Toby. It’s a testament to Toby’s resilience to the way he has handled it all.”

While he shows remorse for the Bontempelli incident, he feels he should not have been suspended from the preliminary final for making contact with Lachlan Neale’s eye region.

“I thought I was innocent, I still think that, I just thought going into both tribunals we would get off and we would play.”

This year he also wants to atone for that forgettable grand final day in September and push forward on many levels.

He didn’t perform how he wanted on grand final day. No one on the team did.

“It was our first ever grand final, the whole of Australia was watching,” he said. “I was shattered for how we performed. I know if we were to get the opportunity again, it won’t be like that.”

“But it’s not something I dwell on or think about. I am a pretty-positive person. I keep moving forward in life.”