Ginnivan,21,had a season-high 23 disposals and kicked a goal at Marvel Stadium,and was instrumental in the Hawks maintaining an attacking mindset in the final term,a week after they relinquished a;a fade-out he said was caused,in part,by an uncertain game plan.
Jack Ginnivan says the Hawks must continue to attack in tight situations.Getty Images
Collingwood’s famed ability to win close matches culminated in last year’s premiership,in which Ginnivan played his last game for the club before a bombshell trade to Waverley.
Ginnivan said on Monday that he provided Hawks’ coach Sam Mitchell with intel last week on what made the Magpies so successful in tight contests,advice that helped his new club surge to a 25-point victory over the Lions despite some nervy moments when the 35-point lead they’d built in the second term was slashed to three points just before three-quarter-time.
Asked if Mitchell had tapped into his knowledge,Ginnivan replied:“Yes,definitely,he[Mitchell] would be silly not to because I have been in that situation so many times.”
“We saw last week[against the Power] I was on the bench trying to coach a little bit. I love being in close situations. I feel like what I need to do in close situations,[is] to help people around me feel comfortable,” he added.
“He[Mitchell] definitely picks my brain. Unfortunately,last week,we had to go through that loss to realise what we could do. Yeah,he definitely picks my brain.”
Speaking on SEN,Ginnivan said Mitchell’s decision to coach from the interchange bench in the final quarter,as Craig McRae does with the Magpies,helped the Hawks to their third win from their past four games.
“I think so. Also,we didn’t go into our shells. Sam’s message at three-quarter-time was that we want to score 100 points,and probably the week before we weren’t predictable to each other,” Ginnivan said.
“We probably didn’t know which way we wanted to go. Did we want to save the game,did we want to knock them out? This week we just wanted to knock them out. We did that,and it was a great feeling.”
Midfielder James Worpel was a key player in the Hawks’ fifth-straight win over Brisbane.Getty Images
Mitchell said it had been at the urging of football department boss Rob McCartney that he had coached at ground level,helping to enforce his final message to the players. The decision to move Blake Hardwick behind the ball late also worked a treat.
“I think when it got to three-quarter-time,and we knew we’d been in this position before,best-case scenario was we continue to play the right way and give ourselves chances to score. The worst-case scenario was (a repeat of last week),” Mitchell said.
“Being able to control that narrative and making sure there was a positivity on the bench was something we didn’t get right last week,so part of that learning was not just for the players,but for the coaches as well.”
Ginnivan said he was relishing the greater freedom the Hawks have given him,the dynamic small forward encouraged to roam further up the field than he was allowed in a more structured Magpies line-up.
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“Collingwood is a very structured system. It’s very hard to be a forward at Collingwood,sometimes there are a few dark days where you are wearing the invisible cloak,” Ginnivan said.
“But Hawthorn,which has been so great for me,you are allowed to be free and you can go and change over patterns and stuff,where at Collingwood you are stuck on one side,and things like that. It’s been great to be able to roam free and be able to touch the ball more because I feel like when I touch the ball,it can work really well for me as well.”
Ginnivan is averaging a career-high 15.2 disposals per game,and has 12 goals in 11 games with the Hawks,the same as he had in 14 games last year with the Magpies. He had 40 in 23 games in 2022.
His scoreboard importance is reflected in that he is ranked second at the club for score assists,disposals inside 50 metres,and for being an inside 50 target.
Magpies great Nathan Buckley said he believes Ginnivan has the capacity to play as a midfielder.
The former Anzac medallist said he continued to work on his fitness.
“I feel like my midfield capacity is untouched because I have always played forward as a kid. Potentially,I don’t know what I could do through the midfield,” Ginnivan said.
“The workrate thing,I have always been able to work hard and get into a hole,but probably I am not that fit enough. But I am getting really fit. If I can get up the field,touch the ball more,it would be a great thing to do.”
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