Jack Ginnivan details emerge in telling revelation about Collingwood exit

The manager of former Collingwood star Jack Ginnivan has poured cold water on suggestions he was not pushed out of the club, before joining AFL rivals Hawthorn. It's been a whirlwind few weeks for Ginnivan, who celebrated a premiership triumph with the Magpies, before returning from holidays from Bali and completing a trade move to Hawthorn within days.

Ginnivan came under fire for attending the Moonee Valley races the night before the grand final, prompting a spray from Collingwood coach Craig McRae who told the 20-year-old to "grow up" and "read the room". With relations seemingly already a little strained with the club, there was also a sense Collingwood's signing of Lachie Schultz in this trade period - as well as the recent acquisition of Bobby Hill - had effectively pushed Ginnivan out of the club.

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Collingwood’s footy boss Graham Wright denied that was the club's intention and insisted they were "disappointed" with the youngster's decision to leave. However, Ginnivan's manager John Meesen has provided a different version of events.

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He says the “goalposts changed pretty quickly” this week after hearing that Collingwood were putting feelers out to their rivals to gauge interest in Ginnivan's services. Meesen claims his phone was "blowing up" with interest in the young premiership winner, prompting him to ring up Wright to find out what was going on.

“I picked up the phone and called Wrighty after my phone started blowing up,” Meesen said on SEN. “It was put to me that Jack was being floated around.

“I don’t want to go tit for tat. From that conversation I got off the phone to him knowing that Jack’s future wasn’t at Collingwood.

“Who initiated the discussion was probably me on the back of some trusted people in the industry saying his name is kind of getting thrown out there. “(I asked Wright) where does he sit? What does it look like? Can you give us any assurance?

"There wasn’t a whole heap of fighting to want to keep Jack at the footy club so we had to move quickly. That’s the nature of the industry – we move on.”

Jack Ginnivan seals "dream' move to Hawthorn

Ginnivan - who grew up supporting Hawthorn as a kid - was pictured in the Hawks guernsey on Thursday after revealing that it was a "dream" of his to join coach Sam Mitchell's side. “Since I was a little kid, I used to barrack for them obviously," Ginnivan said. “It’s such a dream come true for me.”

Ginnivan says it's "so special" to play under a coach the 20-year-old idolised watching during Mitchell's own playing days with the Hawks. The young gun says he's also excited to be part of a youthful core group of players at Hawthorn that shows signs of building towards something fruitful in 2023.

“I think the young core as well as just the excitement the boys play with,” Ginnivan said. “They're always fast and moving the footy forward, people like CJ (Changkuoth Jiath) and Dylan Moore, they're so exciting to watch. It's going to be great to be a part of.”

Ginnivan's 2023 season was marred by a pre-season drug scandal and limited playing time as form issues saw him dropped to the VFL, before making a return to play in Collingwood's successful finals campaign. Despite the speculation he had fallen out of favour at the Magpies, Wright insisted that was not the case and that the decision to leave came down to the player.

“He was a contracted player, he’s a premiership player, he’s 20 years old, and we were pretty clear we saw it that way,” Wright said. “It was Jack’s decision to look elsewhere. In the end we appreciate that, we accept it and we move on.“

with AAP

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