Robbo: With Pies in on Lachie Schultz, what’s next for Jack Ginnivan?

The declaration by Lachie Schultz that he wants to be traded to Collingwood has put Jack Ginnivan’s career at the crossroads. Is he dispensable? Mark Robinson asks where the Pie’s future lies.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Jack Ginnivan of the Magpies celebrates after receiving his premiership medal during the 2023 AFL Grand Final match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 30, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

In the brilliantly revealing documentary, Beckham, famed Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson details why he put David Beckham on the trade table.

He reasoned that Beckham had put himself above the team.

One example was Beckham said he didn’t train because his son was crook and then he was photographed with a glass of champagne in his hand the same night.

Another example was Beckham shaved his head in defiance of the ever conservative Ferguson, who described Beckham as “stubborn’’ and that the celebrity attention Beckham was getting “ was different to what I wanted’’.

“The decision was made, it was better he (Beckham) left,’’ Ferguson said.

On a much smaller scale, Collingwood’s Jack Ginnivan is Beckham to Ferguson’s Craig McRae.

Don’t compare the athletes, compare the parallels.

Beckham was a megastar on the world scale and absolutely everything he did attracted the world’s media attention.

Ginnivan is a small duck in the biggest sporting pond in Australia but everything he does attracts media scrutiny.

Is he worth the hassle?

Craig McRae and Jack Ginnivan in 2022. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Ginnivan is contracted for another year, but suddenly the declaration by Fremantle’s Lachie Schultz that he wants to be traded to Collingwood has put Ginnivan’s career at the crossroads.

Could he be put on the trade table? Is he dispensable? Is coach Craig McRae totally happy with him and probably vice versa?

The Pies forward line is stacked with small and mid-sized forwards. Jamie Elliott plays next year. Bobby Hill plays. Beau McCreery plays. And if Schultz gets a trade, he probably plays.

That leaves Ginnivan scratching for a role.

McRae is the premiership coach with a team-first and club-first philosophy and wants his players to have the same philosophy.

Ginnivan is a different character.

In a blazing start to his career, he bookended this season by being in the spotlight.

At the start of the year, he was suspended for two weeks for taking drugs and we can safely guess that McRae was less than thrilled with that situation.

At the end of the season, Ginnivan clearly disappointed McRae with his decision to attend the races at the Moonee Valley the night before the grand final.

The Pies begin to celebrate on the siren at the grand final. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

Ginnivan defended his decision. “I‘m not a basic footballer like everyone else, I’m allowed to live a life. I was home by 10pm and was on the waters.’’

Declaring he wasn’t drinking alcohol is the kind of absurd information that wasn’t needed.

There was mixed messages out of the Pies, though, which clearly would’ve perplexed Ginnivan.

It was ticked off by Magpies chef executive Craig Kelly.

Kelly said the situation was “massively overblown’’.

“Everyone wants to make a big thing of that, but Jack does that most weekends,” Kelly told SEN Radio.

McRae was calm, but overblown wasn’t his response.

“Read the room, Jack,’’ McRae said after the grand final.

“You’ve got to grow up, but you’ve got to make mistakes to learn from them.”

Jack Ginnivan in racing silks at the Pies’ Mad Monday festivities. Picture: Supplied

He doubled down again on the Wednesday after the grand final.

“What does a winner look like? I don’t know if a winner goes to the races the night before, I’m not sure,’’ McRae said on SEN.

He added: “We’re all different and I want to say if that makes you the best player you can be, go to the races, I don’t want to be an old-school coach around that.”

So, it was OK to go to the races or not to go?

And what does Jack do? He becomes an ambassador for the Cox Plate.

Salt into the wound much?

Ginnivan was the second youngest player on the Collingwood premiership team and it’s difficult juggling being a young, hip, social media phenom in a team sport environment.

But it’s becoming clear that Ginnivan has to pull his head in because if he’s not playing ones and he continues to find headlines, he will quickly find himself unwanted.

Not even Beckham kept his spot at Man U and he was one of the most gifted players on the planet.