GWS star Toby Greene has had his umpire suspension doubled from three weeks to six after the AFL appealed the original decision made by the tribunal.
Greene was initially suspended for three matches after being found guilty of making intentional contact with umpire Matt Stevic following an incident during the Giants' dramatic one-point elimination final win over Sydney.
But the AFL decided to appeal the decision after criticism from chief executive Gillon McLachlan, with the league revealing they would be seeking a six-week ban for Greene at an appeal after the AFL season was completed.
And with the AFL's appeal being upheld on Thursday, Greene will miss the first five matches of the 2022 season, having already served one match of his ban during the GWS' semi-final loss to Geelong.
The AFL appeals board side with the argument put forward by the league's legal representative Jeff Gleeson QC, who said that Green's original suspension was 'too light' and wasn't strong enough to demonstrate how inappropriate the contact with Stevic was.
"What Mr Greene did is very plain," Gleeson said. "If you aggressively walk through an umpire, you don‘t get a three-match sanction. It’s too light and obviously too light.
"A three-match ban conveys it was inappropriate, but not seriously so.
"We shouldn‘t be distracted by contact being relatively minor. If it was major, Mr Greene wouldn’t be playing AFL football again.
"To any way diminish the gravity of the act by reference to the contact being minor misunderstands the need for the sanction for this sort of conduct.
"The message that needs to be communicated to Mr Greene and all players and participants and viewers and umpires and prospective umpires is you simply do not aggressively touch an umpire."
The length of suspension is likely to hurt Greene's chances at becoming Giants skipper in 2022 with current captain Stephen Coniglio struggling to perform in the role recently.
Greene filled in as skipper impressively on a few occasions in 2021, but his brushes with the AFL tribunal overshadowed the quality of his performances on the field at times.
GWS are not expected to pursue any further legal avenues regarding Greene's punishment.
