By Andrew Wu and Jake Niall
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan is unhappy with the three-game suspension handed to Toby Greene for making contact with an umpire, and the league will consider appealing the penalty despite the ban ending the Greater Western Sydney star’s season.
It came as legendary figure Kevin Sheedy, the Giants’ inaugural coach, told Greene to smarten up or risk an abrupt end to his career, and the league’s most decorated and experienced umpire Shane McInerney said the forward was “lucky” not to receive a longer suspension.
The sanction was well short of the minimum six matches called for by the AFL, which wanted a ban that would send a message to players at all levels that such behaviour was unacceptable.
Regardless of whether an appeal is lodged against the penalty prescribed by the jury of former players Richard Loveridge, Shane Wakelin and Stephen Jurica, AFL sources have indicated the league will next year crack down on infringements against umpires as a result of the Greene incident.
Not only was McLachlan keen to see Greene heavily penalised so too was Commission chairman Richard Goyder due to the impact senior league figures fear it will have at the game’s grassroots level where there are enormous difficulties attracting young people to umpiring.
The Giants’ legal team had called for a fine of $20,000 to $25,000, but the club has confirmed it will not be appealing the suspension. Greene apologised during the hearing and again in a statement issued by the Giants, saying he had not intended to make contact with umpire Matt Stevic.
Toby Greene has been suspended for three games for his bump with umpire Matt Stevic during the elimination final.
McLachlan said he had already spoken to the AFL’s lawyers about appealing a penalty he believes is too lenient. Jeff Gleeson QC, acting for the AFL, had described Greene’s conduct as “insolent” and “contemptuous”.
“If I’m honest, personally, I find it hard to reconcile how it can be intentional conduct that was aggressive, demonstrative and disrespectful, and I think it was found to be all those things and then only be three weeks,” McLachlan said.
“We asked for six. These are the facts. I’m finding that personally hard to reconcile how it can only be three weeks. As the CEO of the league, I’m saying to community leagues and others that I find that decision perplexing.”
Greene’s absence is a huge dent to the Giants’ hopes of defeating Geelong on Friday night let alone go all the way and claiming a maiden premiership.
Greene, 27, has been suspended on seven occasions for a total of 11 games during his 10-year career. This was the fifth time in his past three finals campaigns he has been sanctioned. In total, he has been charged 22 times in 176 games.
The Giants have long defended Greene’s indiscretions as the result of a player who played close to the edge, but Sheedy said players such as Geelong captain Joel Selwood had similar approaches without incurring such a lengthy rap sheet.
“There’s one captain who plays close to the edge, there’s another one who makes his team suffers at times - and you don’t need that,” Sheedy said. “He can play on the edge but play on the edge smart, I don’t think he’s playing on the edge smart.
“The deal in the end is how many games do you want to play, how many have you got left because you won’t play many if you keep going down this highway. So change your attitude, just play footy.
Everybody loves the way Toby plays, but they don’t like the other stuff.”
Sheedy felt a two-game would have been sufficient but understood why a longer ban was delivered.
“He gets three because he’s been up how many times, every eighth game? If you keep turning up every eighth game, get over it, son,” Sheedy said.
After nearly three hours of evidence, the jurors deliberated for about 40 minutes and found Greene’s contact with umpire Stevic was “aggressive, demonstrative and disrespectful”.
Greene confronted Stevic during three-quarter-time of the Giants’ heart-stopping win in the elimination final over Sydney. He was unhappy a free kick he was awarded had been reversed, alleging Swans youngster Justin McInerney had “taken a f---ing dive”.
Under questioning by Ben Ihle for Greene, Stevic said he had not found the exchange to be abusive nor felt insulted or threatened.
Stevic had also made a similar statement to umpires’ coach Michael Jennings in an email on Saturday night.
Stevic said he believed at the time Greene was not disrespectful, aggressive or demonstrative, but upon reflection “I don’t think it’s a good look for the game” when quizzed by Jeff Gleeson, QC, for the AFL.
“I would say there’s an element of it being disrespectful,” Stevic said.
Greene said he had no recollection of the incident but, shown stills of the incident by Ihle, told the hearing he had rolled his shoulders to avoid contact with Stevic, with whom he said he had a “good relationship”.
Gleeson, however, said Greene was “angry” at having the free kick reversed and made a “beeline” for the umpire at the three-quarter-time break.
“He did it while he was complaining a player was taking a f---ing dive,” Gleeson said. “He walked towards Matt Stevic angrily, he complained, he swore, he got in his face and he bumped him.
“Matt Stevic said there was an element of it being disrespectful. I won’t be as diplomatic as Matt Stevic. It was insolent and it was contemptuous.”
Ihle accepted it was a “terrible look” for the game but labelled the AFL’s case as “circumstantial”, and urged the jury to consider Stevic’s evidence he had not felt threatened by Greene.
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