Jack Ginnivan and his goal taunt divides after Hawthorn’s impressive Thursday night win
Hawthorn reinvigorated its faltering 2025 campaign with a stunning Thursday night victory – but it was forward Jack Ginnivan who dominated the post-match conversation again.
Teammate Mabior Chol has conceded he wasn’t impressed by Jack Ginnivan’s pre-goal taunt which came so close to turning into one of the disasters of the season on Thursday night.
Ginnivan put the Hawks 27 points clear midway through the last quarter when he beat Ryan Gardner with an instinctive tap and then outpaced his direct opponent Bailey Dale in a race to goal.
But before he skewed his shot inside the post from a few metres out, narrowly averting disaster, Ginnivan showed the ball to Dale who trailed him by about 10m.
“I wasn’t a fan of it, to be honest. He’s Ginnivan. What can you do? It’s him. It’s his personality,” Chol told Fox Footy post-match.
“But I am just kind of glad he’s had a massive two weeks.”
Coach Sam Mitchell stopped short of saying he had no problem with it during his Friday morning appearance on SEN, but he did say “the game has changed”.
“I won’t be having a chat with him (Ginnivan), I’ll let the players handle that,” he said.
“As long as it’s not disrespectful to the game or the other team or the fans, and if it’s disrespectful I’d kind of err to not enjoying it as much.
“I haven’t rewatched it. I don’t know the banter that was going on out there.
“He had a bit of a job on Bailey (Dale) at different stages. Making sure he kept a bit of an eye on him because he’s obviously a potent player.
“So you really need the context of it.”
why everyone wanna be so serious, bro can't have fun. 🦕🦕
— Jack Ginnivan (@GinnivanJack) June 5, 2025
Ginnivan said he was “giving it” to Dale after being assigned the task of limiting the dynamic Bulldog’s impact in the last quarter.
“Last quarter I was trying to keep Dale to not many, so giving it to him a little bit...but it’s easy to chirp when you’re up,” he said.
He later tweeted: “why everyone wanna be so serious, bro can’t have fun.”
Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall added: “I don’t like this personally, but what I like doesn’t matter. He nearly shanked the kick but fortunately he was close enough.
“It was him back to his best. He was probably one of their best last week as well.”
The incident took the gloss off another brilliant performance from the 22-year-old, who was one of Hawthorn’s best players in a 22-point victory which snapped the club’s three-game losing run,.
Ginnivan kicked two goals in the first five rounds before he was sent to Box Hill and has responded by booting 13 in seven matches since being recalled.
The small forward has also averaged 18.4 disposals, five marks and five inside-50s a game during that stretch.
But his lairising was the hot topic of discussion post-match, with Leigh Montagna warning Ginnivan was “setting himself up for when he does fail.”
“Tonight no problem because they win, he’s played well, it’s all OK. I just don’t think he needs to do it,” he said.
“He played a really clever game. That’s what he is, he’s a smart footballer. He gets into the right spots. He’s come back from being dropped and taken it on the chin.
“And not only taken it on the chin, he’s come back and really improved his game. So you’ve got to give him a lot of credit for that.
“He’s becoming a really important member of this forward half.”
Hawks coach Sam Mitchell had no interest in being drawn into the discussion about the incident, laughing off two questions in his post-match press conference.
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said it was unlikely the incident would serve as motivation when the teams next clashed.
“That’s what he does, that’s the way (Ginnivan) rolls,” he said.
Ginnivan said being able to get “stuff in the off-field sorted” had been the catalyst for one of the best periods of his 77-game career.
When even your teammates believe the carry on is too much….. As Kingy pointed out very well, the whole team fired tonight to contribute to a victory but Ginnivan made it all about him in celebration https://t.co/T6Op1X1V8K
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) June 5, 2025
MATCH REPORT: HAWKS SNAP THREE-GAME LOSING RUN
— Ronny Lerner
Hawthorn has reinvigorated its faltering 2025 campaign with an impressive 22-point win over the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.
The Hawks’ pressure has become a huge talking point recently after they lost the tackles by massive margins of 23 and 44 respectively in their previous two games.
But after registering a combined total of just 74 tackles against Brisbane and Collingwood, they laid 82 to the Bulldogs’ 73 as their grit, intensity and determination returned with a vengeance.
Hawthorn kicked five of the first six goals inside 18 minutes to shoot 25 points clear in the blink of an eye, and they weren’t meaningfully challenged from that point on.
The Hawks were in dire need of a big scalp to legitimise their status as a premiership contender, especially after coach Sam Mitchell said they were “miles off” the best teams last week following their thumping loss to the Magpies.
And the 12.9 (81) to 8.11 (59) result over the Bulldogs, who are widely viewed as a flag dark horse, was just what the doctor ordered for Hawthorn, who lost their previous three games, and kept them right in the top-four hunt.
Meanwhile, the Dogs missed a big opportunity to re-enter the top eight and as impressive as they have been this year while battling a massive injury list for the most part, the fact of the matter is they have now fallen short against top-eight teams Collingwood, Brisbane, Geelong, Gold Coast, Hawthorn and Fremantle. GWS (seventh) remains the highest-ranked side they have beaten.
Making Hawthorn’s performance even more admirable was the fact they were missing important trio James Sicily (hip/adominal), Nathan Watson (illness) and Jack Scrimshaw (managed), as well as star midfielder Will Day (foot).
The Bulldogs headed into the game as the No.1 team in the league for inside-50 differentials, but the Hawks dominated territory and finished up with a huge advantage in forward entries (58-43).
The Dogs were also the highest-scoring side in the league, yet were kept to their lowest tally of the season by the Hawks.
Jai Newcombe was fantastic for the winners with 27 disposals (15 contested), 10 clearances, six tackles and a goal, while Mabior Chol starred up forward, kicking four majors to be the main attacking threat on the ground. Jack Ginnivan backed up his impressive game against old side Collingwood last week with 23 possessions and two goals.
GINNI TAUNTS DOGS
Ginnivan put the finishing touches on the result early in the final quarter when he tapped the ball clear of Ryan Gardner on the Hawks’ half-forward line, gathered it, took three bounces in a vacant forward line and after cheekily showing his opponent the ball, he rammed it home from the goal square for a 27-point lead.
MCNEIL MUCKS UP
Lachie McNeil had a horrible moment early in the third quarter when he gave his kick across goal to Ryan Gardner on the half-back line too much air. It allowed Chol to arrive and intercept the pass, before he collected the crumbs and snapped truly to put Hawthorn up by 28 points.
WEDDLE DAZZLES DOGS
Early in the first quarter, Hawthorn young gun Josh Weddle showed off his enormous talent when he went on a scintillating run through the middle, took a bounce, burnt off Bulldogs pair Lachie McNeil and Laitham Vandermeer before unloading from 45m out and kicking a brilliant goal.
ICE COLD DOGS
The Bulldogs’ poor start was summed up by the fact that four of their players - Sam Davidson, Rhylee West, Buku Khamis and Ryan Gardner - did not touch the ball in the first quarter.
Originally published as Jack Ginnivan and his goal taunt divides after Hawthorn’s impressive Thursday night win
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