GWS will try their luck at the AFL Appeals Board in a bid to free Toby Greene to play in Friday night’s crunch clash with Richmond.
Key points:
- Toby Greene was cited for striking Patrick Dangerfield in the throat
- Greene was initially banned for two matches, before having the contact downgraded to a one-week ban
- The Giants are still in the top eight, taking on tenth-placed Richmond on Friday
Greene was initially offered a two-match suspension by match review officer Michael Christian for his elbow to Patrick Dangerfield’s throat in an apparent fend-off gone wrong.
The star forward was booked for striking the Geelong champion, with the incident assessed as careless conduct, high impact and high contact.
He successfully had the impact level downgraded to medium at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night, but was unable to convince the jury his action was “instinctive, natural and reasonable”.
It meant he was left with a one-match ban, and the Giants confirmed on Wednesday that they would contest that decision at the AFL Appeals Board.
Eighth-placed GWS are just two points clear of a chasing pack of four clubs — Essendon, Richmond, St Kilda and Fremantle — with two home-and-away rounds left to play.
Fremantle are also weighing up whether to appeal Andrew Brayshaw’s one-match ban after the star Docker was unsuccessful in his bid to overturn it at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Brayshaw was charged with intentionally making “unnecessary or unreasonable contact” to the eye region of Brisbane’s Jarrod Berry.
The tribunal rejected the 21-year-old’s evidence that his contact to Berry’s face in a tackle was careless rather than intentional.
Brayshaw now faces the prospect of missing the Dockers’ derby clash with West Coast in Perth on Sunday.
AAP
