Toby Greene umpire contact: New angle shows GWS star bumping Matt Stevic

Kieran Francis

Toby Greene umpire contact: New angle shows GWS star bumping Matt Stevic image

A new angle of Toby Greene's incident with umpire Matt Stevic has shown the GWS star clearly bump the AFL official during the Giants' one-point win against Sydney in Saturday's Elimination Final.

Controversy surrounded the confrontation between Greene and Stevic during three-quarter-time, with vision appearing to show contact between the pair, but not definitively.

However, new vision of the incident released by 7AFL's Twitter account shows Greene's shoulder making contact with the shoulder of Stevic, with enough force to turn the umpire's body.

The fresh angle of the contact will likely play a significant factor in whether Greene is cited by the AFL Match Review Panel and if he is fined, suspended or set straight to the AFL Tribunal for judgement.

Under official AFL guidelines: "Contact with an umpire that is aggressive, forceful, demonstrative, or disrespectful will be deemed intentional and the player will be directly returned to the tribunal."

A decision by the AFL MRP can be expected by Sunday evening following the conclusion of the first weekend of finals.

Despite several critics believing Greene will be suspended, former St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt feels the evidence of the incident is not strong enough to convict the 27-year-old and the likelihood of a ban will depend on Stevic's testimony.

"Is it a shoulder bump? Is it a hand brush? It’s hard to hang him on that piece of vision, (but) I know it looks bad," Riewoldt said on Fox Footy.

"I think they’ll need another angle, and I think Matt Stevic will play a massive role in this.

"If you actually follow it through and see the context of the conversation and how it unfolds; they’re having a pretty amicable chat. Matt Stevic doesn’t look to be too disturbed afterwards."

However, former North Melbourne premiership player David King was certain Greene will receive a ban.

"I don’t think there is any way of talking around this. The umpires are a no-go zone and when you decide to walk into their path ... I think he made a calculated decision, he’s made a big error," King said on Fox Footy.

"Unfortunately, I think he’ll miss several weeks – that’s just how it sits for me. I’m not sure how you argue your way around that one.

"He knows he’s there, he walks into him, you just can’t do that. We all love him and we all want him to play, but whenever these things happen, more often than not, it’s got Toby involved.

"I feel for the Giants. Coming down from the euphoria of this win will be the reality that Toby’s made a blue."

Kieran Francis

Kieran Francis Photo

Kieran Francis is a senior editor at The Sporting News based in Melbourne, Australia. He started at Sportal.com.au before being a part of the transition to Sporting News in 2015. Just prior to the 2018 World Cup, he was appointed chief editor of Goal.com in Australia. He has now returned to The Sporting News where his passions lay in football, AFL, poker and cricket - when he is not on holiday.