‘You can’t pay that’: Giants star caught up in umpiring drama that baffled greats

Toby Greene is the latest player to bear the brunt of some umpiring controversy after being penalised for holding the ball in a tense clash against Fremantle.

Toby Greene was 'harshly' penalised for holding the ball.

Toby Greene is the latest player to bear the brunt of some umpiring controversy after being penalised for holding the ball in a tense clash against Fremantle.

The Giants held on for a 15.11 (101) to 14.8 (92) win in front of 10,801 fans at Engie Stadium but it was a far from certain until the final siren sounded.

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But despite the closeness of the game, it couldn’t avoid umpire controversy.

Greene was tackled immediately by Dockers superstar Andrew Brayshaw inside the Giants 50 metre arc and attempted to stand up in the tackle to get a kick away, but was penalised by the umpire.

“You can’t pay that holding the ball, he tried absolutely everything he could to get rid of it,” Hawthorn champion Jordan Lewis said on Fox Footy’s broadcast.

“That’s stiff.”

St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna echoed Lewis’ sentiments.

“Oh NO! Wasn’t given much time at all,” Montagna complained.

“Everything he’s been asked to do, but he’s been penalised… he actually did it so well to try and get boot to ball,” Lewis replied.

“He’s the only player in the last ten weeks who’s actually tried to get up and put it on his boot,” Geelong champion Cameron Mooney added.

Toby Greene was 'harshly' penalised for holding the ball.

However, the Giants did hold on, claiming a seventh-straight win with coach Adam Kingsley warning the side's best is still yet to come.

The Giants equalled their club record winning streak after downing Fremantle by nine points in a thrilling encounter.

“I’m not sure we’re playing at our absolute best yet,” Kingsley said.

“I think we’ve got more to give, particularly offensively. We can move the ball a little better.

“I think we can tighten the screws a bit defensively. Fremantle kicked 92 points today so we need to be a little better than that.

“I don’t think we’re playing at our absolute best, but we’re still managing to get the job done each week.”

GWS has taken some huge scalps over the course of their run.

They ended Carlton’s five-game win streak with a brilliant victory at the MCG, put a halt to Brisbane’s nine-game run at the Gabba and are the only team to hand Hawthorn a loss in their last five outings.

The Giants are flying. Photo by Phil Hillyard

Kingsley said it’s the perfect preparation for the post-season as they look to go one step further than last year’s preliminary finals appearance.

“We’ve had a great dress rehearsal for the finals,” he said.

“The teams that we’ve played over the last five weeks have all been finals-type teams.

“We played Melbourne at the ‘G, we’ve played Hawthorne, we’ve played Fremantle and Brisbane up there.

“We’ve got the Bulldogs at Ballarat (next round). We’ve basically already played five finals, so I’m really comfortable with that.

“Getting there is one thing. The season starts again now and we’ve got to make sure we’re playing our best footy.”

With Sean Teuma, Newswire

Originally published as ‘You can’t pay that’: Giants star caught up in umpiring drama that baffled greats