By Rebecca Mills
Toby Greene is a footballer’s footballer.
On the field, the 181 cm ball magnet instinctively reads the play and finds the ball. His natural ability and drive to win the football means that Greene has amassed more disposals in his 17 games than any 18 year old in AFL history and has an average of 27.5 disposals a game.
Off the field, he’s quiet and unique. He wears one tracksuit pant leg up and doesn’t mind sporting a headband and having a laugh with his teammates.
Two years ago, Greene only just scraped in to the Oakleigh Chargers Under 18 side and now he is the most prolific ball winner in the GIANTS young midfield.
“I’m pretty happy with how the season has gone, personally. I’ve achieved my goal: I just wanted to play 10 games at the start of the year,” Greene said.
Last week, Greene recorded his best performance to date, racking up 38 disposals and 16 contested possessions against Melbourne at Manuka Oval.
“I thought my game on the weekend was probably my best for the year.
“Kicking a couple of goals is something I wanted to focus on in the last couple of games and I was happy I was able to do that.
“I haven’t had a whole year report from the coaches but we go through every game.
“They’re really smart and they know their stuff about midfield stoppages and things like that. I’ve learnt a lot this year.”
Greene has come a long way since his first AFL pre season earlier this year, when he could often be found asleep in the player’s lounge at lunchtime in the middle of the tough day of training.
“Preseason was one of the hardest things I’ve done.
“I think the training has to get easier during the year because you feel so sore after the games but the sports and conditioning staff do it really well.
“The biggest thing I’ve learnt is the structure of AFL football and how it works.
“During the season you just try to get up for games and be 100%,” Greene said.
Despite his impressive stats sheet, Greene will not be taking home the title of NAB AFL Rising Star this year. The GIANTS have had a record seven players nominated for the award in 2012 but a rough conduct charge in Round 8 ruled Greene out of the running.
“I’m not really disappointed with not being able to win the Rising Star.
“It was something I did that was stupid, but you learn from it.
“Hopefully one of the boys like Adam Treloar or Jeremy Cameron can get up. I think it would be really good for the club if someone from the GIANTS could win it.”
