‘Insolent’ AFL star banned for season

The GWS bad boy had created controversy during his side’s elimination final win over Sydney after TV replays showed he had bumped into umpire Matt Stevic.The incident had the footy world melting down in recent days after he was charged and sent straight to face the tribunal.The scandal was decided on Tuesday afternoon after a dramatic, marathon tribunal hearing which ultimately resulted the jury of Shane Wakelin, Stephen Jurica and Richard Loveridge finding Greene guilty.Greene has been handed a three-match ban which ends his season even if the Giants were able to win through to the grand final.Watch every 2021 Toyota AFL Finals Series match before Grand Final. Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >The panel returned after a deliberation of more than 45 minutes to announce they had agreed Greene’s act was “aggressive, demonstrative and disrespectful”.After further deliberation the panel agreed on a three-week suspension after a request from AFL legal counsel Jeff Gleeson to ban Greene for no less than six games.greene poll“This is a serious offence and a serious moment in the governance of the game,” he said. “Your sanction should say to Toby Greene, ‘Don’t do this again’ and to anyone who plays the game, ‘Don’t do this’.”Greene’s legal representative suggested the panel issue him a fine of up to $25,000 without any suspension from playing matches.Greene was excused by tribunal chairman Ross Howie before his punishment had even been announced as a result of the 27-year-old needing to travel with his team to Perth ahead of their semi-final showdown with Geelong at Optus Stadium on Friday night. Greene will take no part.He learned the punishment via phone on his way to the airport.Despite a week of angry, emotional debate, Howie stressed the panel’s verdict needed to be a black and white answer to the simple question of whether Greene’s contact was deliberate or not as a result of the player being charged with “intentionally making contact”.AFL counsel Gleeson was scathing when giving his thoughts on the key question in his final summation to the panel. He labelled Greene’s act “insolent and contemptuous”.“Umpires are untouchable,” he said. “It’s fundamental to our game the umpire is respected, that his or her decision is respected and physical presence is respected. Nothing is more important. The game collapses & changes in its nature if we don’t adhere to this fundamental principle.”It was one of several extraordinary moments during the hearing, which included an apology from Greene and the audio of the words he used when marching at the umpire being revealed.Among the most important pieces of evidence was testimony given by Stevic in which he backflipped on earlier testimony to claim Greene’s act was “disrespectful”.The high drama continued as the hearing unfolded with the panel being played audio from the umpire’s microphone capturing Greene’s angry words before the contact.“He took a f***ing dive,” Greene said after a free kick was given to Sydney near the end of the third quarter.The case took another dramatic turn minutes later with Stevic’s bombshell testimony against Greene’s actions, claiming there was “an element of it being disrespectful”.“To be honest I don’t think it’s a good look for the game. Not forceful, but some may form the view it’s demonstrative,” he said.He had earlier said he was not concerned by the contact Greene made. “I was aware Toby Greene made some minor contact with me as he walked by. I considered the contact minor and didn’t feel threatened at the time,” he said.Greene was then called on to give evidence, where he offered an apology while denying he made deliberate contact with Stevic.“I do apologise for making contact and it’s certainly something I wasn’t trying to do,” he said.“I agree it’s not a great look for the game and I do apologise.”Toby Greene’s recent finals rap sheetAs first revealed by Twitter stats guru @sirswampthing, Greene has now been charged in six of his most recent seven finals matches.The 2019 grand final loss to Richmond is the only final where he has not been cited by the match review officer since 2017.Greene has been fined a total of $30,000 in his career, which has included being charged by the match review officer 22 times since debuting in 2012. After the three-match ban handed down on Tuesday, Greene has now been suspended for a total of 11 weeks. Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au