Kane Cornes said that Collingwood “gave up” on Jack Ginnivan after the Magpies’ trade of the young gun went horribly wrong, but Nathan Buckley has refuted this. On Saturday, Ginnivan dominated his former team, recording career-high totals of 31 disposals and 4 clearances in addition to striking two goals in Hawthorn’s 66-point victory.
Ginnivan has been shining for the Hawks this year after being given much more freedom than he did at Collingwood. The 21-year-old helping the Magpies win the premiership in 2023, but was traded to Hawthorn in the aftermath after a falling out with coach Craig McRae.
Ginnivan previously opened up about feeling too restricted at the Magpies and lauded Hawks coach Sam Mitchell for allowing him more flexibility in the forward line. On Monday, former Port Adelaide player Kane Cornes said Collingwood “gave up” on Ginnivan too early and should have stuck by him.
“Essentially they gave up on him. He’s now 21 years of age and Hawthorn are saying, ‘Ok, this guy has got something’,” Cornes said on SEN radio. “He may not be perfect but Collingwood gave up on essentially a 20-year-old because of a couple of things off the field that many young players go through.
“Now he’s at a team that fully embraces what he’s able to do, the attributes that he has and the way that he plays in and amongst a system that allows the players to play with a bit more freedom. He had 30 disposals, which is a career high, and the most he ever had at Collingwood was 20. Clearly they pigeon-holed him into a role that didn’t fully suit the attributes that he’s got.”
Nathan Buckley rejects claims about Jack Ginnivan and Collingwood
But former Collingwood player and coach Buckley pointed out that Ginnivan helped the Pies win a flag and refuted the claim they have up on him. “You think that Jack and the football he is playing now might actually be a product of the lessons that he’s learned over the last 12 months?” Buckley asked.
“I think he’s going extremely well, by the way. That’s all credit to him and it’s all credit to Hawthorn, but I don’t think there needs to be any denigration around Collingwood or how they brought him up, the opportunities they gave him, the system that he played in.
“If you’re talking from a pure football sense, there was a game where he actually went into the midfield that year. He has midfield traits. His ability to get in and under to get his hands on the ball. But he’s got to build his tank. He’s running pretty well at the moment but he will develop his tank even further. I see midfield scope in him eventually.”
Cornes questioned how Collingwood didn’t see the possibility of playing Ginnivan more in the midfield. “They may well have but it was probably a little bit more behavioural and off-field that they may have had concerns on,” Buckley said. “None of us are privy to that because that would have happened inside the four walls more often than not.”
McRae was publicly critical of Ginnivan’s decision to attend the races the night before last year’s grand final, even though the youngster wasn’t drinking or doing anything untoward. Ginnivan then dressed up as a jockey for the club’s Mad Monday celebrations, in what appeared to be the final straw for McRae.
