Toby Greene in hot water as Peter Wright learns fate over ugly AFL incident

GWS captain Toby Greene may find himself in trouble with the AFL Tribunal after breaking a rule in Saturday's clash with the West Coast Eagles widely known as 'the Toby Greene rule'. The law stems from 2017 when Greene made headlines after connecting with the face of ex-Bulldog Luke Dahlhaus with his boot in a marking contest.

The 30-year-old avoided suspension at the time, copping a $1500 fine for the act. Two years later the AFL rules were tightened to rub out studs being used as a barrier between one player and another while contesting a mark. The rule states that the use of studs in marking contests or open play can result in free kicks, fines or suspensions.

Due to it being introduced following the GWS captain's incident, it has been widely referred to as 'the Toby Greene rule'. And the Giants skipper fell back into his old habits again in the Giants clash against West Coast in Perth, leading with his right leg as he took a mark, catching Eagle Tom Cole in the chin with his boot.

The Fox Footy commentary team were quick to call out Greene's act. "Driving ball from (Lachie) Whitfield and out to meet it Toby Greene, well he had the leg out, he did make contact, allowed to play on," Adam Papalia said as it happened. "We’ve seen that before with Toby Greene taking a mark with his leg out and his studs up."

Former Eagle Will Schofield then promptly asked: "Didn’t they bring a rule in, a Toby Greene rule?" to which Matthew Pavlich without missing a beat responded: "They certainly did".

"You're allowed to run out and jump at the ball. But you’re not allowed to run and jump at the ball and put your studs up. That’s been the change hasn’t it after a couple of those incidents. I'm sure it will be looked at (by the AFL tribunal)."

Social media was abuzz following the incident, with Fox Footy sharing the clip of Greene's mark on X captioned: "Toby Greene with some questionable marking technique here". In response, one person replied: "That's very Toby". While another added: "Just completely unnecessary. The incident was a sour mark on GWS's dominant 16.12 (108) to 5.13 (43) victory over the struggling Eagles.

Peter Wright facing suspension for bump on Swan Harry Cunningham

Essendon forward Peter Wright will front the AFL tribunal this week after a nasty high bump on defender Harry Cunningham concussed him and put him out of the match. Wright is the only player facing suspension after Saturday night's fiery clash at the SCG, with Swans veteran Tom Papley saying post-match that the Bombers employed dirty tactics, regularly hitting them behind the play.

He also added Wright would have a "nice holiday" for the Cunningham bump. The Bombers tall is facing a rough conduct charge, with the bump graded as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact.

Essendon coach Brad Scott defends physical approach

But Essendon coach Brad Scott threw his support behind Wright after the game and defended his side's physical approach to the contest. "I'm not going to talk about the incident but the only thing I can say is Peter Wright is a well-known ball player - always has been, since he was a kid," Scott said.

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Scott spoke before the game about wanting his players to show a combative 'Essendon edge' and said it was necessary if they were to blunt Sydney's weapons. "Sydney have dominated the last few weeks and they've got a lot of players who are very slick and good with the ball in hand," he said.

"Their ball movement is very solid at the moment. If we just sat back and watched them do that, it was going to be a long, difficult night. We needed to combat that with some physicality in the contest."

with AAP