Toby Greene and the umpire “bump” during the elimination final.
But the MRO’s verdict was that the contact was intentional. “Based on the available evidence,the incident was assessed as intentional umpire contact. The incident was classified as a direct referral to the tribunal and the player cannot accept an early plea,” the AFL said.
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 would have been a fine,such as that given to Lachie Neale when he made contact with umpire Matt Nicholls earlier this season. Neale was bleeding at the time and said he was attempting to make Nicholls aware that he needed to leave the ground for the blood rule. Neale’s contact was judged as unnecessary or unreasonable.
A finding of intentional sends Greene to the tribunal and leaves the Giants star in danger of missing next weekend’s semi-final against Geelong,and possibly subsequent finals should GWS advance.
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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.