“Proper think”: Greene will ponder Giants future during bye

GWS captain Toby Greene is set to consider his future over the mid-season bye.

That is according to Giants vice-captain Tom Green who says the club’s games record holder and foundation player will assess his options following the Round 12 clash with Melbourne.

Greene is out of contract this year and has been linked with a return to his home state of Victoria. The likes of Hawthorn and Geelong have been most heavily mentioned as potential landing spots for the 32-year-old if he does decide to leave GWS.

He will soon have a “proper think” about what the future holds.

Injured midfielder Green was asked by Garry Lyon on SEN Breakfast: “Is there any chance that Toby Greene won’t end up a one-club player?”

He replied: “I don't know to be honest with you, Garry. What I do know is that I think over the bye he's going to have a proper think about it.

“I’m pretty close to Toby and I feel like we have a really good relationship outside of football too. I’m really comfortable speaking to him about absolutely anything that's going on and that's sort of why I'm having a couple of conversations with him.

“I really don't know exactly where his head's at but I get the sense that he's going to have a proper think over the bye.

“I don't really think I'm revealing anything here that he hasn't said himself, but he had a bit of an interrupted pre-season with a little bit of hamstring stuff, and so he knew he'd take a little while to get going.

“He didn't want to think about his contract until about the bye. So I think that he's coming up to a period where he's going to have a real think about it, and we'll figure it out for now.”

Green admits his skipper will head back to Melbourne at some point, but says he and his family are loving life in Sydney for now.

“He’s also been really open about he's going to move back to Melbourne post football, but I personally don't think that that really affects what's going to happen with his contract,” he added.

“He loves Sydney, I know he absolutely loves it. As far as I'm aware, his partner, Georgia, and I know Isla, his little daughter, certainly loves Sydney as well. So I don't think the fact that he's going to move back to Melbourne post-footy is going to necessarily affect the decision that happens with his contract.

“We’ll wait and see but I'm not sure that he necessarily knows himself yet to be honest.”

Green was asked how he feels about the possibility of Greene exiting the club at season’s end.

The reigning Kevin Sheedy Medallist hopes he and his Giants peers can persuade the much-loved three-time All-Australian that GWS is the place where he can achieve the ultimate success.

“It makes me feel sad if we would lose Toby. I’d be really upset and again because I'm losing a mate, I'm losing a captain, I'm losing the greatest player that's played for the Giants, and he's also just a really good player,” said the 25-year-old.

“One thing that I really admire about Toby, and I feel very similarly myself, this contract decision of his will be mainly based on where he feels like he's best suited to winning a premiership.

“Now I still think that that's at the Giants, I think that some things haven't quite gone our way yet this year but I don't see why they wouldn't going forward. Particularly we’re starting to get players back now and I think that it can turn pretty quickly and for whatever that looks like going in the years going forward.

“But I think that his decision will be mainly based about where he feels like he's best suited to win and I'd be really disappointed if he didn't think that that was at the Giants.

“In that way I'd be a little bit flat with that, I'd be flat as well because you're losing a mate.

“But like I said I don't think he knows yet and we'll cross that bridge when it comes to it. I suppose the onus is on us to make sure he feels like this is still where he can be successful and any other help that we can give him to convince him to stay. I think that's important that we make sure we provide for him.”

Green is considered by many to be Toby’s heir apparent as Giants captain.

Given he’s out for the entire 2026 season with an ACL injury, the hypothetical question was posed by Tim Watson: “Your name has been mentioned as the next captain after Toby, and you’re coming off an injury. How would you feel about being given the captaincy role coming off a 12-month injury?”

Green replied: “Yeah, it's an interesting one Tim, I'm not too sure. It's obviously a bridge we have to cross when we get there.

“Who knows, I may not end up (as captain), maybe I will. But I think personally I'd be really comfortable with it.

“I know that everything that comes with being captain, well maybe I don't quite know yet, but I know that there's a lot more commitments. You've obviously got to spend a lot of time thinking not just about yourself, but about the club, about your young players, how do you get everyone working on the same page, everyone pulling in the same direction.

“But I've started after having been in the leadership group for a little while and starting to become more senior in that space and really trying to sort of help and support Toby in every way I can. I feel like I'm already doing that a little bit.

“I don't know the full burden, I suppose, that Toby has to carry and has carried really, really well for us for a while now. But I feel like I've got some taste of that. And so that doesn't bother me too much.

“First and foremost, you've got to make sure that you're getting everything right in your own backyard and you're performing well and all that sort of thing. But I've got great faith that with the good lead in of a pre-season that I’ll have and then getting into games that I’ll be able to prepare myself to be in the best space that I could.

“It wouldn’t intimate me too much.”

Greene himself spoke about his future on SEN's AFL Nation broadcast over the weekend.

He says he would entertain a shift back to Melbourne for one main reason: “The only reason, I guess, is cause I'm a bit older in my career, and I just want to assess life after footy and what that looks like.”

Listen to the full chat with Tom Green below: