Leigh Matthews hits out at AFL in 'diabolical' swipe around Jack Ginnivan furore

AFL legend Leigh Matthews has blamed the game's lawmakers for the drama surrounding Hawthorn star Jack Ginnivan and his treatment from umpires. Debate has reignited around the sport after Ginnivan was caught in a number of high tackles that weren't paid as free kicks during his side's Easter Monday loss to Geelong.

Many AFL greats, commentators and fans insist the 21-year-old is a victim of his reputation and is not being officiated by umpires in the same way as other players. The Hawks star admitted during the 2022 season while playing for Collingwood that he often stayed on his feet during contests and sought high contact from opposition players as a way of getting free kicks and kicking easy goals.

Since that admission, Ginnivan has earned a reputation for 'staging' and the number of free kicks he's won for high contact has plummeted substantially. On Monday against Geelong, Ginnivan was collected high a number of times during tackles by Cats players but his appeals for a free kick were waved away by the umpires on each occasion.

The officiating of Ginnivan has sparked uproar around the game and Matthews says the AFL needs to accept a large portion of the blame. The four-time premiership coach is regarded as one of the game's greatest players and like Ginnivan, excelled at crumbing and collecting loose balls around goal.

But Matthews argues that part of that skill often involves keeping your head down during contests - an action that in the current state of the game is not likely to favour the ball-carrier during incidents where there is high contact. The AFL great says the game's lawmakers have altered the "balance between the rights of the ball carrier and the rights of the tackler" and described it as a "diabolical" situation for players and umpires.

Leigh Matthews lashes AFL over high contact debate

“When you pick the ball up, what, you’ve automatically got to stand up? How stupid is that?” Matthews asked Sam McClure on 3AW’s Wide World of Sports program. "Any player worth his salt, when you’re down over the ball, you tend to stay down.”

“I blame (former AFL footy operations boss) Steve Hocking, and I blame (former GM of Football) Brad Scott – whoever else was making those decisions – I mean it’s markedly changed the rights (of the player with the ball).

“We have that many high contacts not being paid, and I blame the AFL hierarchy. I’m not an AFL basher; they’ve marketed the game outstandingly, almost every decision they make has advanced the sport – but this particular situation... I just think it’s diabolical, and the umpires are now caught completely between a rock and a hard place.”

Matthews' swipe came as The Herald Sun’s Sam Landsberger shared some eye-opening statistics on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle that backed up the furore around Ginnivan and the suggestions he was being umpired differently to others. “Last year he ranked 135th in the AFL for high contact free kicks, so he’s dropped from number one (in 2022) to 135 – tell me he’s not being umpired differently,” Landsberger said. “It’s ridiculous – he’s getting his head ripped off."

Claims Jack Ginnivan is being umpired differently to others

The situation is not specifically limited to Ginnivan though, with the league as a whole experiencing a 10 per cent reduction in high contact free kicks given between 2022 (1844) and 2023 (1677). “A 10 per cent reduction on overall high contact free kicks, and an 80 per cent reduction for Jack Ginnivan – how does that stack up?” Landsberger added.

Dual premiership great David King said during the Geelong game that out of a raft of high contact free kicks given, it was no coincidence that Ginnivan's two appeals were waved away. “There’s been 11 high tackles paid today, and just by sheer coincidence the two Jack are involved in are a no-call,” King said on Fox Footy.

“He’s gone from 21 (high tackle free kicks) in 2022 to four last year to one so far this year. “They have two sets of rules. It’s as simple as that. The guy with the long sleeves gets nothing. Eleven today and none to Jack, I think the case rests.”

with AAP