- Nov 23, 2015
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- #26
GWS star Toby Greene is loving life in Sydney after turbulent start to his AFL career
JON RALPH, Herald Sun
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...r/news-story/6b28ae5af94dda1618e0211a04151e0d
Toby Greene just doesn’t lose a one-on-one contest. Station him deep in attack or let him scream up the ground leading at the ball carrier and he becomes one of footy's most dangerous men. Unstoppable, even. Which may be why it has taken four months for him to reluctantly reveal exactly how he broke his toe last October, an injury that has ruined his pre-season.
The answer finally comes with a chuckle and a rueful shake of the head you get the feeling Greene has perfected over the years. It is just hours after GWS megastar Greene has signed a six-year, $6 million deal and yet in so many ways he is still the naughty kid in the playground.
“I was just being an idiot, wrestling with my mate in an apartment in New York and I got flung into the wall,’’ Green says, ’fessing up to the Sunday Herald Sun at the club’s Olympic Park headquarters in Sydney. “I didn’t think it was that bad at the time and then it got sorer and sorer, so I had to ring ‘Cambo’ (footy boss Wayne Campbell). “I thought it was a bit of a laugh at the time, but it took a while to come good, so I won’t be doing that again.” Greene wants to clarify one thing — he still didn’t lose the fight. Give him that bit of dignity at least. “Nah, I will always win,” he says. “I would have been beating (my mate) for sure. I had him on the ground for about five minutes (before that).”
And yet as Greene picked himself up and dusted himself off, he soon realised the collateral damage. It was an injury that morphed into something more damaging, with Greene only now able to join in full training just weeks from the AFL season. “Cambo wasn’t too bad about it,” Greene says. “Leon (Cameron) was on holidays so he said, ‘Don’t call Leon’, he had to do that. “Originally I thought I might be back running by week one of the pre-season but that certainly wasn’t the case. “It wasn’t the toe in the end, it was the inside of my foot. I must have been protecting it when I started running again.
“My fat pad got really irritated and it took so long to come good. My toe was fine by January, but how I was running affected another part of my foot. I just kept having little setbacks but hopefully it starts on the upward trend now.” Welcome to another chapter in the weird and wonderful life of Toby Greene.
One of the AFL’s few remaining larrikins, he is also one of its most captivating and colourful stories. Ratbag, fun-loving rogue, ’80s throwback — he is all of those. Greater Western Sydney loves him so much some at the club think he is their most important player. But for coach Cameron and the teammates who know, Greene is one of the most popular members of the Giants’ list — the good far outweighs the bad. The Giants love Greene and he loves them and the city back. “No, I can’t say there have been any regrets,” he says. “Obviously I have had a few misdemeanours and cost myself here and there, but I guess it was part of the learning process. I know it was a bit steeper than others and people will say I was an idiot, which I probably was. But I have definitely learnt from it. It’s something I want to continue to learn from.” Greene, 24, knows he can be his own worst enemy.
The player exodus from GWS that so many keep predicting just isn’t occurring, Greene joining Josh Kelly, Josh Kelly and Lachie Whitfield as recent big-name signings. He signed because he loves the joint, but also early in the year so teammates wouldn’t have to be pestered about his business as they were about Kelly last year. But five or six million, or whatever the exact amount is? “Yeah, just doesn’t seem right, really,” Greene says. “I didn’t play footy to get paid a lot of money, I just always loved it,” he says. "It’s good to get a deal with the Giants, it's a dream come true and hopefully it sets me up for the future. I guess I have been lucky, I never really got homesick. We get two months of holidays so it’s plenty of time to get back home.”
For Greene there are no fast cars or one-off splurges, just a determination to use those two months to open his horizons. In his holidays there have been regular trips to South America, Cambodia and America, with Sri Lanka up next. Check out his Instagram page, filled with photos of Greene hooning around on motorbikes, feasting on Rio’s beauty and generally living the dream. “I take a massive interest in it,” he says. “Every off-season I go somewhere different. I loved South America, it was a completely different culture to anywhere else in the world. Places like Bolivia and Rio, I loved Texas. After Sri Lanka, Europe is next on the cards. It definitely opens your mind, there are so many different people you meet. I don’t like sitting still.”
Great article, and there's more detail in the full story (quite a long article).
Toby Greene signs massive multi-year deal to stay with GWS Giants, longest deal in club history
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/re...s/news-story/05c4a4e5cc49e50cda18d81b4f519a4a
THE GWS Giants have announced a massive contract coup, with All-Australian forward Toby Greene signing the longest deal in the club’s history. Greene confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday that he had signed a new six-year deal that will tie him to the club until 2024. The deal was only finalised on Monday. It was reported on Tuesday that the contract signed by Greene, who has developed into arguably the club’s biggest barometer and one of the league’s most polarising figures, could be worth as much as $6 million, with Triple M reporting it was around $800,000 to $1 million per year.
Unlike Josh Kelly last year, GWS’ move ensures there will be no-season long contract fanfare over Greene, who was originally contracted until the end of the 2018 season. “He (Kelly) copped it. I wasn’t interested in that,” Greene told reporters with a smile. Greene said he had no hesitation re-signing with the club and was proud of signing an extension that will see him tied to the club until he’s 31-years-old. “It showes a lot of faith in me. I had no hesitations in signing a long-term deal because this is where my home is and this is where I’ve made my best mates coming through the ranks.”
JON RALPH, Herald Sun
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...r/news-story/6b28ae5af94dda1618e0211a04151e0d
Toby Greene just doesn’t lose a one-on-one contest. Station him deep in attack or let him scream up the ground leading at the ball carrier and he becomes one of footy's most dangerous men. Unstoppable, even. Which may be why it has taken four months for him to reluctantly reveal exactly how he broke his toe last October, an injury that has ruined his pre-season.
The answer finally comes with a chuckle and a rueful shake of the head you get the feeling Greene has perfected over the years. It is just hours after GWS megastar Greene has signed a six-year, $6 million deal and yet in so many ways he is still the naughty kid in the playground.
“I was just being an idiot, wrestling with my mate in an apartment in New York and I got flung into the wall,’’ Green says, ’fessing up to the Sunday Herald Sun at the club’s Olympic Park headquarters in Sydney. “I didn’t think it was that bad at the time and then it got sorer and sorer, so I had to ring ‘Cambo’ (footy boss Wayne Campbell). “I thought it was a bit of a laugh at the time, but it took a while to come good, so I won’t be doing that again.” Greene wants to clarify one thing — he still didn’t lose the fight. Give him that bit of dignity at least. “Nah, I will always win,” he says. “I would have been beating (my mate) for sure. I had him on the ground for about five minutes (before that).”
And yet as Greene picked himself up and dusted himself off, he soon realised the collateral damage. It was an injury that morphed into something more damaging, with Greene only now able to join in full training just weeks from the AFL season. “Cambo wasn’t too bad about it,” Greene says. “Leon (Cameron) was on holidays so he said, ‘Don’t call Leon’, he had to do that. “Originally I thought I might be back running by week one of the pre-season but that certainly wasn’t the case. “It wasn’t the toe in the end, it was the inside of my foot. I must have been protecting it when I started running again.
“My fat pad got really irritated and it took so long to come good. My toe was fine by January, but how I was running affected another part of my foot. I just kept having little setbacks but hopefully it starts on the upward trend now.” Welcome to another chapter in the weird and wonderful life of Toby Greene.
One of the AFL’s few remaining larrikins, he is also one of its most captivating and colourful stories. Ratbag, fun-loving rogue, ’80s throwback — he is all of those. Greater Western Sydney loves him so much some at the club think he is their most important player. But for coach Cameron and the teammates who know, Greene is one of the most popular members of the Giants’ list — the good far outweighs the bad. The Giants love Greene and he loves them and the city back. “No, I can’t say there have been any regrets,” he says. “Obviously I have had a few misdemeanours and cost myself here and there, but I guess it was part of the learning process. I know it was a bit steeper than others and people will say I was an idiot, which I probably was. But I have definitely learnt from it. It’s something I want to continue to learn from.” Greene, 24, knows he can be his own worst enemy.
The player exodus from GWS that so many keep predicting just isn’t occurring, Greene joining Josh Kelly, Josh Kelly and Lachie Whitfield as recent big-name signings. He signed because he loves the joint, but also early in the year so teammates wouldn’t have to be pestered about his business as they were about Kelly last year. But five or six million, or whatever the exact amount is? “Yeah, just doesn’t seem right, really,” Greene says. “I didn’t play footy to get paid a lot of money, I just always loved it,” he says. "It’s good to get a deal with the Giants, it's a dream come true and hopefully it sets me up for the future. I guess I have been lucky, I never really got homesick. We get two months of holidays so it’s plenty of time to get back home.”
For Greene there are no fast cars or one-off splurges, just a determination to use those two months to open his horizons. In his holidays there have been regular trips to South America, Cambodia and America, with Sri Lanka up next. Check out his Instagram page, filled with photos of Greene hooning around on motorbikes, feasting on Rio’s beauty and generally living the dream. “I take a massive interest in it,” he says. “Every off-season I go somewhere different. I loved South America, it was a completely different culture to anywhere else in the world. Places like Bolivia and Rio, I loved Texas. After Sri Lanka, Europe is next on the cards. It definitely opens your mind, there are so many different people you meet. I don’t like sitting still.”
Great article, and there's more detail in the full story (quite a long article).
Toby Greene signs massive multi-year deal to stay with GWS Giants, longest deal in club history
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/re...s/news-story/05c4a4e5cc49e50cda18d81b4f519a4a
THE GWS Giants have announced a massive contract coup, with All-Australian forward Toby Greene signing the longest deal in the club’s history. Greene confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday that he had signed a new six-year deal that will tie him to the club until 2024. The deal was only finalised on Monday. It was reported on Tuesday that the contract signed by Greene, who has developed into arguably the club’s biggest barometer and one of the league’s most polarising figures, could be worth as much as $6 million, with Triple M reporting it was around $800,000 to $1 million per year.
Unlike Josh Kelly last year, GWS’ move ensures there will be no-season long contract fanfare over Greene, who was originally contracted until the end of the 2018 season. “He (Kelly) copped it. I wasn’t interested in that,” Greene told reporters with a smile. Greene said he had no hesitation re-signing with the club and was proud of signing an extension that will see him tied to the club until he’s 31-years-old. “It showes a lot of faith in me. I had no hesitations in signing a long-term deal because this is where my home is and this is where I’ve made my best mates coming through the ranks.”
