There is no defence for it Grand final umpire calls for Greene suspension

Three-time grand final umpire Mathew James says Toby Greene must be suspended for at least two matches in order to send a message to junior footballers that making contact with an umpire is unacceptable.

Match review officer Michael Christian will on Sunday determine whether Greene should merely be fined for his run-in with umpire Matt Stevic during the three-quarter time break in Saturday’s elimination final between Greene’s Greater Western Sydney and Sydney, which the Giants won by one point.

Toby Greene and the umpire “bump” during the elimination final.

Christian will need to determine whether Greene’s behaviour was careless, unnecessary/unreasonable, or intentional. The AFL tribunal guidelines state that “contact with an umpire that is aggressive, forceful, demonstrative or disrespectful” will be classified as intentional, and therefore the player will be directly referred to the tribunal.

The alternative is a fine, such as that given to Lachie Neale when he made contact with umpire Matt Nicholls earlier this season. Neale was bleeding and his contact was judged as unnecessary or unreasonable.

A finding of intentional would send Greene to the tribunal and leave the Giants star in danger of missing next weekend’s semi-final against Geelong, and possibly subsequent finals should GWS advance.

Greene appeared to make front-on contact to Stevic with his chest/shoulder, brushing the veteran umpire as the Giants players made their way to the three-quarter time huddle.

James, who umpired 206 AFL games between 1999 and 2009 including three grand finals, said Christian and the tribunal could not let Greene get away with just a fine.

“It’s got to stop or else this will happen at lower levels to some young boy or girl umpiring,” James told The Age and the Herald.

“It was deliberate. Clearly could have stepped to the side. Has to be a minimum two matches. There is no defence for it, he walked straight at him and chose to make deliberate contact with him.”

Greene has a lengthy tribunal record, suspended late in the season for an incident involving Cats star Patrick Dangerfield. Two years ago he missed the Giants’ preliminary final win over Collingwood for an incident with Brisbane star Lachie Neale.

Greene was on Thursday night named an All-Australian for the second time and kicked three goals in the thriller in Launceston on Saturday.

The dynamic forward told Channel Seven after the game that he would never make intentional contact with an umpire.

“I don’t know what it was,” Greene said.

“It was just in the moment and certainly I would never [intentionally] touch him. I was just talking to him about something in the game, but yeah.”

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Daniel Cherny is an Age sports reporter.

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