GWS captain Toby Greene has been suspended for the eighth time in his career after failing in his bid to clear himself of a one-game ban at the tribunal.
Greene will sit out the Giants’s clash with the Brisbane Lions on Anzac Day after being suspended for the first time since infamously making contact with an umpire during an elimination final against Sydney in 2021.
The tribunal upheld a rough conduct charge on Carlton defender Jordan Boyd during the Giants’s loss on Saturday.
It takes the tally of games missed due to suspension during Greene’s 221-game career up to 15.
The Giants star led at the ball and jumped for a mark but turned his body just before a collision and made contact with Boyd’s head, who was going back with the flight of the ball.
Boyd got up immediately to take a free kick and played out the match.
Greene’s actions were graded as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
“Prior to impact, Greene had abandoned his attempt to mark the ball and turn his body to brace for impact,” tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson said.
“Noting again that Greene admitted this was a high bump.”
Greene gave evidence saying he had eyes only for the ball and only realised when it was too late he would not be able to take the mark.
His legal representative, Anais d’Arville, claimed Greene’s actions were not unreasonable in the circumstances.
“The whole time I thought I was a good chance to take the mark,” Greene said.
“At the last moment I realised he was going to touch the ball before me, then I braced for impact.”
While Greene will miss the Anzac Day match against the Lions in Canberra, fellow star GWS forward Jesse Hogan is free to play after having his one-game suspension for striking dismissed.
Hogan was banned by the match review officer, who graded an incident with Carlton defender Lewis Young as intentional conduct, low impact and high contact.
But the tribunal panel dismissed the charge, saying there was not enough force from Hogan to grade it as low impact.
“Hogan gave impressively candid evidence, including acknowledging he did swing with force to try and push Young,” tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson said.
“We are not clearly satisfied there was anything more than negligible.”
Hogan admitted he and Young engaged in “some words” and felt he was a “bit harshly treated”.
“We got into some push-and-shove and it ricocheted off his arm and initially thought I scraped his nose,” he told the tribunal.
“When I initially did it, I actually didn’t think I had landed anything.
“Until he started to say I’d ‘get a week for that’, I didn’t comprehend anything.
“We addressed it after the game. We smoothed it over directly after.”
GWS football boss Jason McCartney addressed the club’s big night at the tribunal.
“We’re pleased with the outcome of the tribunal with respect to Jesse’s case where the charge of striking was dismissed due to the negligible nature of the incident,” he said.
“We’re naturally disappointed Toby’s rough conduct charge was upheld, while acknowledging the necessary focus on protecting players from head high contact wherever possible.
“We took the charge further given our belief that this was a genuine marking contest which routinely happens within our game.”
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AAP
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