Anzac Day Collingwood v Essendon: The highs, lows and making of Jack Ginnivan
Heath Shaw won an Anzac medal early in his career and was never far from the headlines during his time at Collingwood. So, where does he think Jack Ginnivan goes from here?
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When Jack Ginnivan’s alarm went off on the morning of last Anzac Day, things were very different.
The boots went into the kit bag for the 10th time at AFL level, and when they went back insome 12 hours later, he was the 2022 Anzac medallist and the 20th player to have claimed the individual honour of the biggest game of the home and away season.
Everything had changed.
Five goals, the platinum locks and a grinning press conference later, Ginnivan was well and truly stamped on the biggest of stages.
His captain Darcy Moore can only but smile when he remembers the moment as he surveys the MCG turf.
“On this game last year, we certainly saw his arrival in the AFL,” Moore said.
“It’s a big game with lots of eyes on it. On Anzac Day, it’s one of the biggest stages of the year, and he was able to perform and was pretty sensational and walked away with the medal.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to forget that any time soon.”
It was 365 days ago but, in the whirlwind of football, that’s a lifetime.
Ginnivan, who hails from Newstead – a town of just over 500 outside of Castlemaine – has seen the highs, the lows, the critics, the compliments, the narratives, the naysayers.
There’s been a few of them all.
“I’ve had it since I was a young kid,” Ginnivan said last Anzac Day of the scrutiny as the medal hung around his neck with the occasional disbelieving glance.
“I love being competitive and I love when people doubt me. It gives me the edge to go out and show them what I’ve got. That’s how I deal with it.
“I’m just trying to be myself. Whatever people say about me, I don’t really care. I know I’ve got people in my corner backing me, supporting me, I’m just trying to be myself.”
Coach Craig McRae sat next to him that night, backing him in to “be authentic”.
The spotlight was bright last Anzac Day, but it hit full force again in February, when the young Pies star admitted to illicit drug use on a day off from a club training camp on the surf coast.
He “owned it straight away”, club figures said, banned for at least the first two games of this season before making his way back to the senior team last weekend after a fortnight in the VFL.
If a year is a long time in football, what about the past eight weeks?
“That’s the story with Jack, and he is a story,” Collingwood coach McRae said this week.
“The reality of last year was a 19-year-old kid living his life in front of everyone’s eyes. “There was a lot of public opinion with the way he was playing and he gets a lot of attention.
“We just want Jack to do his job.”
The two-match penalty handed down by the AFL came on a Saturday, after vision emerged of the incident.
It marked the first time football had been wrenched away from the flashy – but “soft” off-field, some close to him say – forward.
There was telling mum and dad, too.
“That hurt,” one industry figure said.
Former Magpie Heath Shaw – who claimed the 2007 Anzac Medal in his third season at the Magpies – reckons Ginnivan can be a “better player” for his turbulent 12 months.
“Playing for Collingwood, the attention you get is on steroids,” Shaw told News Corp.
“People say there’s big clubs around – Richmond, Essendon, Carlton – but Collingwood is clearly at the top when it comes to media and stories and what people want to read about.
“You have a kid come in with a little bit of flair, plays an unbelievable game and wins the medal – that acceleration has just gone up ten-fold.
“With that, comes pressure – obviously to perform, but from the outside looking in.”
It’s a hard balance to strike, he says.
“You get the attention, the outside praise, and people wanting to be your friends but with that comes the critics as soon as something goes wrong,” Shaw recalled.
“I learned that the hard way a few times.
“It’s just a learning curve for him and for a kid like him, a young kid who’s had to go through that a lot earlier in his career … he can learn from that. He can be a better player for that.
“Now, he’ll be able to get that balance right.”
Ginnivan – for all his fancy footwork and tongue-flashing celebrations – delivers something of an “alter ego” off the big stage, one source said, who “does his own thing”, and “doesn’t like to grandstand”.
His resilience has been noted by others. Moore describes him as “a popular teammate”.
Just 66 days after being slapped with the ban and thrust into the headlines – again – Ginnivan will return to the MCG for the first time this season.
His last day as the reigning Anzac Day medallist.
“In the last four to six weeks, he’s just really committed to his training,” his skipper Moore said.
“We’re a pretty close, connected team and he’s really invested in that.
“That’s been really obvious and that’s the most pleasing part. I think we saw that when you saw all the guys celebrating his goal on the weekend.
“It shows that he has a big impact on the group and it means a lot to us to have him out there with us.”
The jumper-grab after his crucial goal in last week’s win over St Kilda had extra gusto – and he’ll only build, according to his coach.
“He’s missed a bit of footy – six weeks out of the game is a long time to be able to be match fit and ready,” McRae said.
“But I think he showed some stuff that we really liked from him. He was really clever around goals, he’s a very clever player in terms of finding the footy.
“I’d hope to think that this week you’ll see a better version.”
Shaw was in his 33rd game when he was anointed as the Anzac Day medallist, and Ginnivan his 10th as those voting named them best exemplifying the Anzac spirit – skill, courage, self-sacrifice, teamwork and fair play.
“(Then-coach) Mick (Malthouse) would say ‘we want you to play well week-in, week-out but if you play well on the big stage, that’s a big tick’,” Shaw said.
“It was a big thing in his eyes when it came to playing finals and that stuff because he could trust you on the big stage.
“It can get overwhelming, but if you can perform on the big stage like that, it was a big tick for you.
“For me, that was something I could say ‘I belong here and I can play on the big stage’.”
McRae – who has said he has not only two daughters, but his “44 sons” – is watching Ginnivan, now 20, as “he’s growing up”. As a footballer and a person.
“He’s becoming a better version of himself in all sorts of ways,” he said.
“He’s not perfect, like all of us. We’re all trying to be better people within society. Jack gets an opportunity to play on a big occasion on which he’s performed well.”
It won’t be forgotten for Moore, but when the alarm rings out today, there remains more to be written for Ginnivan – and Collingwood.
“Since (Anzac Day last year), he’s played in three finals, we’ve played in big games ourselves and we’ve taken some big scalps and in many ways as a team, proved our legitimacy as premiership contenders towards the end of last season,” Moore said.
“We’ve certainly come a long way since that game.
“Jack’s a little bit emblematic of that.”
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