Toby Greene is a very good player. He could be all Australian. But he has a history of suspensions and reports.
Following are some examples.
May 16 2014
GIANTS midfielder Toby Greene has been suspended for five games and fined $5000 after a late night incident while on leave.
The GWS board ratified the decision on the recommendation of coach Leon Cameron and the club’s leadership group.
Giants chief executive David Matthews said Greene had breached club protocol by drinking while injured and failing to properly notify the club of his arrest on Monday night.
“We are in no way pre-judging the charges against Toby which will be heard in court later this year,” Matthews said.
“However Toby has failed to meet the standards expected of the playing group by drinking alcohol when injured and failing to properly notify the club about a serious incident within an acceptable time frame,” he said.
“Toby will receive counselling to ensure he learns from this experience and the standards expected of all players.”
Greene has been charged with a string of offences after an alleged confrontation with a bouncer outside a licensed venue in Melbourne’s south-east.
Greene has been charged with intentionally causing serious injury, recklessly causing injury, affray, assault in company, assault by kicking, assault with a weapon, unlawful assault, making threats to inflict serious injury, being drunk in a public place and criminal damage.
Greene, and a 19-year-old man, are due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on September 25 – the same day as Greene’s 21st birthday.
As revealed by AFL.com.au, Greene had been watching the football with mates at Docklands Stadium earlier on Monday night.
Outgoing AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said the League welcomed the Giants stance, saying it sent a “very clear message”.
“He accepted that sanction, in fact, as I understand it, he apologised this morning at a player meeting, was very contrite.
“Our policy is if these things are dealt with in-house appropriately then the AFL has no role in it.”
However, Demetriou said the AFL could take action if Greene was proven guilty.
“Potentially, if he’s found guilty … of a serious offence, potentially that would be a matter for our integrity unit.”
Greene suffered an ankle injury in Sunday’s loss to West Coast.
With a bye this weekend, Giants players went on leave following the match.
April 24 2017
Greater Western Sydney forward Toby Greene has dodged an AFL suspension for headbutting Sydney’s Isaac Heeney.
Greene was reported over the behind-play incident during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s clash at the SCG.
Buddy Franklin’s 800th career goal was little consolation for the Swans as GWS condemned their cross-town rivals to a fifth straight loss.
But after viewing footage and speaking to the umpire who made the report, the match review panel found there was insufficient force in the contact to warrant a charge.
Greene last week accepted a $1000 fine for striking Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston.
It would have been a major blow for the Giants if Greene had been suspended – the 23-year-old has started the season in outstanding form, booting 17 goals.
April 28 2017
Greene was booked late in the third quarter during the GWS Giants’ thrilling clash with the Western Bulldogs in Canberra.
The star Giant played an influential role throughout the night, booting 3.1 from 17 touches and seven marks in his side’s classic two-point win to take his goal tally to 20 for the year to date.
But his hit on Daniel will be the big talkling point from the game and could see him miss the Giants’ next game against St Kilda.
Greene struck Daniel with a clenched fist after the little Bulldog had taken a mark just outside 50. A 50m penalty was paid against Greene, with Daniel kicking the goal from the goalsquare before Daniel, who had been split open at the lip, was forced off the ground under the blood rule
It’s the third incident in three weeks that Greene has been involved in. He escaped suspension for headbutting Sydney’s Isaac Heeney last weekend, while he was fined for striking Port Adelaide’s Aidyn Johnson in Round 4.
Those incidents also came after two in the JLT Community Series involving North Melbourne’s Sam Gibson and Sydney’s Harrison Marsh.
Minutes after being reported, umpire Shaun Ryan approached Greene to re-emphasise that Greene had been playing on-edge over recent weeks.
“I’ve been telling you for a couple of weeks now that you’re getting very close to the edge,” Ryan said.
Commentator Wayne Carey was a little surprised by the comments.
“I have never heard that before … Clearly the umpires thought he was treading a fine line and they’re actually watching him tonight,” Carey told Channel 7.
Giants coach Leon Cameron earlier this week said he had warned Greene to tone down his on-field behaviour.
“We’ve had a good chat with Toby over the last couple of weeks,” Cameron said.
“He’s such a competitor, he’s got to make sure that in the moment he’s got to be able to control that aggression. We don’t want to lose any guys to suspension, let alone the guys of the quality of Toby Greene.
“He knows that, he’s got to constantly work on that. The one thing I will say is I love the way he goes about it, he’s such a competitor.
“He does know that he’s got to make sure that when that tipping point comes, he’s just got to be able to take a deep breath and move onto the next contest. We want Toby playing every game and he wants to be playing every game as well.”
…………….
There’s a couple of interesting things in that for me Aidan. First off, Wayne Carey’s commentary on the umpire (I’ve heard a few others too). The idea that the umpire has no role in counselling the player I fundamentally disagree with. At all junior levels there is a high expectation that umpires have a role in teaching young people the game, guiding them on the ground. Why should that all of a sudden stop at the AFL when the umpire can, as he did here, provide the player with some wise counsel (i.e. pull your head in before you get yourself in trouble).
Secondly, I’m not sure in the short term what exactly the answer is for Greene. It doesn’t help that we have commentators like Kane Cornes claiming he was unjustly suspended for punching Daniel in the face – it was not an attempted spoil. It’s clear there is an issue and I’m not sure GWS making noises like ‘he just needs to temper his temper’ is realistic. Every time he sets foot on a field from now on opponents will niggle him in the hope that he blows his lid again. Two or three more rash acts across his career could see him pushing the deregistration limit given he now carries a poor tribunal record.
Do you ever get really angry and have trouble controlling yourself Aidan? (Don’t worry your parents already know the answer). What do you do to help control your actions when you want something that you can’t have? Do you throw tantrums (I don’t – not cool); manipulate people to get them to give it you you anyway (I’m an expert) or sulk until they give in (my other area of expertise).
I am wondering how your experience could help Toby (and me) to change. Please let us know.
I try and change what I am doing and go do something fun, I try to look on the bright side of things. Normally to cool of I might watch an episode of a funny show I normally don’t do a sport or something because I get extremely critical of myself and put down myself. If I don’t do that it normally results to self put down which leads me to being sad.
Great thoughts Aidan. At the start of one of Michael Jordan’s books he wrote what his High School Basketball coach always told him:
“Good judgement requires experience. Experience requires bad judgement.”
He said he always asked to get the ball in the last 30 seconds, because the more times he missed the better he would be next time. Eventually made him the best clutch shooter ever.
Same in life and sport.
Yes, so much of sport, music and life is emotion.