GWS captain Toby Greene has been suspended for the eighth time in his career after failing to free himself from a one-game suspension in court.
Greene will miss the Giants’ clash against the Brisbane Lions on Anzac Day after being suspended for the first time since making contact with a referee during a knockout final against Sydney in 2021.
The court upheld a charge of rough conduct against Carlton defender Jordan Boyd during the Giants’ loss on Saturday.
The number of games missed due to suspension during Greene’s 221-game career increases to 15.
The Giants star stepped toward the ball and jumped to score, but turned his body just before colliding and made contact with the head of Boyd, who was retreating with the flight of the ball.
Boyd immediately got up to take a free throw and ended the game.
Greene’s actions were rated as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
“Prior to impact, Greene had abandoned his attempt to score the ball and turned his body to prepare for impact,” said Chief Justice Jeff Gleeson.
“Noting again that Greene admitted that this was a big increase.”
Greene testified that he only had eyes for the ball and only realized when it was too late that he would not be able to take the mark.
His legal representative, Anais d’Arville, stated that Greene’s actions were not unreasonable under the circumstances.
“The whole time I thought I had a good chance to score,” Greene said.
“At the last moment I realized he was going to touch the ball before me, so I braced myself for impact.”
While Greene will miss the Anzac Day match against the Lions in Canberra, fellow GWS star Jesse Hogan is free to play after having his one-game suspension for striking overturned.
Hogan was penalized by the match review official, who rated an incident with Carlton defender Lewis Young as intentional conduct, low impact and high contact.
But the court panel dismissed the charge, saying Hogan had not exerted enough force to qualify as low impact.
“Hogan gave impressively candid evidence, including the admission that he made a forceful move to try to pressure Young,” presiding judge Jeff Gleeson said.
“We are clearly not satisfied that there is anything more than negligible.”
Hogan admitted that he and Young engaged in “some words” and felt he was treated “a little harshly.”
“We had a few pushes and it bounced off his arm and at first I thought I had scraped his nose,” he told the court.
“When I initially did it, I didn’t really think I had achieved anything.
“Until he started saying ‘they would give me a week for that’, I didn’t understand anything.
“We addressed it after the game. We smoothed it out immediately afterward.”
GWS head of football Jason McCartney addressed the club’s big night in court.
“We are pleased with the court’s outcome regarding Jesse’s case, where the strike charge was dismissed due to the insignificant nature of the incident,” he said.
“We are naturally disappointed that Toby’s rough conduct charge has been upheld, while recognizing the necessary focus on protecting players from high head contact wherever possible.
“We took the charge further because we believed this was a true scoring competition that occurs regularly in our game.”
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AAP
