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Toby Greene is out to overturn his one-match ban and Kangaroos great Wayne Carey says the incident should be judged on its merit, not Greene's reputation.

North Melbourne great Wayne Carey says GWS star Toby Greene shouldn't be judged off his previous indiscretions when he faces the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night.

Greene is contesting a one-match ban for making unreasonable or unnecessary contact to the eye region of Brisbane's Lachie Neale, which will see him miss Saturday's preliminary final against Collingwood.

A week after Greene received a $7500 fine for serious misconduct, Carey said the Giant's latest indiscretion didn't deserve the same penalty as Tom Hawkins' one-match ban for striking.

"The hysteria around Toby Greene is horrendous, it really is," Carey told 7mate's Talking Footy.

"This is a guy who yes, he's got some indiscretions in the past - okay so he's got 18 of them - but you're not judged off what he did last week or what he did before that, you're judging him off this incident right here and that is not reportable.

"If Tom Hawkins gets one week for what he's just done and you're comparing that to that, that is an absolute joke that Toby Greene is going.

"And for all those people out there that are on their high horse and say 'he's got to get a week because of what he did last week' - that is totally ridiculous."

Former Western Bulldogs captain Luke Darcy said he believed the one-week penalty related to Greene's reputation, rather than assessing the incident alone.

"There's a compounding factor that's happened in this decision no doubt," he said.

"The AFL are unhappy about the look ... that has been bracketed together. It has been bracketed together because you remove his name, you remove the individual, he doesn't get suspended for that."

Former Melbourne forward Garry Lyon said he didn't believe there had been a "witch hunt" for Greene.

"I think any player that starts putting their hands around players' eyes in that manner is going to be brought up and discussed in situations like this. I'm not buying the 'witch hunt' argument.

"I can't believe Toby went there again, to be honest. That is the most staggering thing of the whole lot."

Carey said while he believed Greene shouldn't have made contact with Neale's face, the incident wasn't worth a week's ban.

"It's a little bit naughty, it's annoying, it's all of those things," Carey said.

"Should he be doing it? No. Is it worthy of missing a preliminary final? Categorically no."