Beginning again: How the Pies are handling Jack Ginnivan

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When Jack Ginnivan was suspended in the pre-season for the use of illicit drugs, it was clear that he would miss more than the regulation two-match penalty for getting caught on video in a narcotically incorrect situation.

For Ginnivan, the penalty has turned into an absence of four AFL games and, given Collingwood’s largely positive season to date, he’s done well to win back his berth in a team in which ex-Giant Bobby Hill has become a near-automatic selection in a forward line that also contains the explosive tackling beast Beau McCreery.

If he did not know back in February, Ginnivan surely understands how he lost ground as a result of his suspension. He was one of very few Collingwood players who returned from their post-season break a little below par in fitness, and then had the drug video.

Jack Ginnivan pictured last season celebrating a goal. Credit: Getty Images

The Magpies had recruited Hill and the confluence of circumstances meant that Ginnivan found himself fighting for his spot, despite an impressive 40-goal haul in his tumultuous second season last year.

But if Ginnivan’s failings off-field and relative lack of athleticism have rendered him a less-than-automatic member of the Collingwood side, coach Craig McRae also has shown a high degree of faith in the 20-year-old to bring him back for the unexpected monster game against the Saints in Adelaide on Sunday.

Ginnivan performed quite well in his first VFL outing at Port Melbourne, booting a couple of goals under lights, but he didn’t do much on Good Friday eve when Collingwood’s twos played the Lions in unpleasant afternoon heat up in Brisbane, albeit the Pies were flogged and their forwards given scant opportunities.

McRae could have taken a hard line and kept Ginnivan in the VFL for at least another week.

That the coach has brought him in for this game is a measure of how McRae is more of a New Testament than Old Testament-style coach, placing more store in what a player can do than his limitations or personal foibles. “Water what you want to grow” is a classic McRae-ism.

That said, Ginnivan would not have been selected if he had not demonstrated a) the right level of commitment in training and b) the necessary level of fitness to perform. Nor would he have been selected if McRae did not think he was needed against Ross Lyon’s Saints 2.0 – an outfit that doesn’t make it easy to score.

Collingwood also enters this match in less-than-imperious form and with sudden personnel problems arising from the loss of both their frontline ruckmen (Darcy Cameron and Mason Cox).

They have selected Oleg Markov (substitute last week) and will consider whether Will Hoskin-Elliott, who has had gastro, is well enough to either come into the 22 or play as the sub.

Ginnivan, even on a quiet day, is capable of conjuring a couple of goals from thin air, and it will be fascinating to see how he is umpired – and if his penchant for seeking high contact remains – in his first senior outing of 2023.

His knack for finding a goal was on display at Collingwood training last week when he gave new teammate Dan McStay some tutelage in the art of snapping goals.

Collingwood had a few goalkicking yips in their thrashing by the Lions, when even the trusty boot of Jamie Elliott was awry (0.3), and it would not be lost on their match committee that Ginnivan doesn’t fluff many chances.

Ginnivan’s selection confirms, too, that the Magpies are willing to pick three genuine small forwards, plus Elliott – a hybrid mid-sized forward despite his small stature – alongside McStay, Brody Mihocek and Ash Johnson.

The events of pre-season should serve as a salutary warning to Ginnivan of the parlous nature of AFL careers. He must now know that there’s a sizeable gap between his high public profile – created by Anzac Day heroics, his goalkicking and the shift in his treatment by umpires – and his place in the team’s pecking order.

The Magpies have made a leap of faith by sneaking Ginnivan over the border, amid the hoopla of Gather Round, despite his modest form in the VFL, to take on the Saints and the method of the game’s defensive master.

He did the time. The Pies held him to account, while showing care. On Sunday, in Adelaide twilight, Jack Ginnivan can begin again.

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