Greater Western Sydney coach Adam Kingsley says he’ll have to take a different approach to firing up his captain Toby Greene after taking some of the blame for the outburst in the Sydney derby that resulted in a suspension.
Greene himself conceded he got “pretty wound up” for the clash with cross-town rivals Sydney during which he elbowed Swans star Isaac Heeney in the head, which earnt him a one-game ban.
The Giants captain was also under scrutiny for kicking Sydney’s Dane Rampe after behind-the-goals vision spotted the incident.
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It was reviewed by the AFL and Greene was cleared because he didn’t make any contact with Rampe.
But on Wednesday, Kingsley acknowledged his role in trying to get an emotional response from Greene and said they spoke about it in their debrief of the game and he’d have to do things differently next time.
“The game against the Swans can do funny things, especially when we haven’t won in a while. His aggression was a bit misguided,” Kingsley said.
“I’d wound him up a little bit during the week. I need to be better with how I articulate that to him and what I’m asking him to do, being a little bit more explicit around the actions that I require and not some of the stuff which happened.
“I’ll take responsibility for that and be better next time.
“It was an undisciplined act. We need him to channel his aggression in a little bit more productive action.
“I’m not concerned in the slightest about Toby Greene. He crossed the line on Friday night, I don’t think it’ll happen again. I have full confidence in that. I have full confidence in him. He just lost his mind for a little bit.”
Greene, who is the most-fined and suspended active player in the AFL, will miss the crunch clash against the Western Bulldogs on Thursday night with the Giants seeking a top-four berth.
He said he’d love his time back and conceded he had a “bit to work on” to avoid something similar happening again.
“I was just probably highly emotional and got don’t argued sensationally by Isaac and then did what I did – which if I had my time back, I would love it back, but that’s not possible,” Greene told the Ausmerican Aces podcast.
“There was a bit going both ways and I probably let that get the better of me in terms of getting emotional and pretty wound up.
“I’ve been guilty of it previously in my career, and it was certainly a slip-up and something I’d like to have my time back, but you obviously don’t.
“I’d like to learn my lesson, and I thought I was almost past that, but clearly not. So, mate, a bit to work on.”
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