Collingwood and Seven strike deal to control Ginnivan fallout

The fallout of the Jack Ginnivan saga could have been much worse — if not for a secret deal struck by the Pies to protect him.

MELBOURNE . 20/02/2023. AFL . Collingwood training at Olympic Park. Jack Ginnivan of the Magpies arrives at the club this morning . Pic: Michael Klein

Jack Ginnivan’s bombshell admission this week has lit up the league ahead of the start of the 2023 AFL season.

The 20-year-old admitted to the use of an illicit substance after vision emerged of him in a toilet cubicle at the Torquay Hotel in January.

The livewire small forward will miss the first two games of the season, and is ineligible for selection for Collingwood’s reserves in the VFL or in the sanctioned practice matches scheduled ahead of Round 1.

The video, filmed over the wall of the toilet cubicle, was shopped around to Melbourne television networks and put by Seven to the Collingwood Football Club on Thursday.

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Despite the vision not actually showing Ginnivan’s face and the privacy issues stemming from being filmed in a toilet cubicle, the content of the footage could still be reported, and so the standard AFL illicit drugs process kicked into gear on Thursday night.

Ginnivan admitted his use of the drug to Collingwood football boss Graham Wright on Thursday night, and the AFL integrity office was then informed.

The established precedent for a first strike under the AFL’s illicit drugs policy is a two-week ban and a $5000 fine – but with the AFL and Collingwood needing time to work through that process, the Herald Sun reports a deal was struck with Seven that they would hold off on reporting the incident on the basis that they got an exclusive interview with a repentant Ginnivan, which aired on Saturday night.

Jack Ginnivan was ready to get back to work at training on Monday. Pic: Michael Klein

Ginnivan announced himself on the biggest stage last year, kicking five to earn himself the Anzac Medal in just his tenth career game. Photo by Michael Klein

The AFL’s illicit drugs policy is such that Ginnivan may have been able to avoid a suspension entirely if he had self-reported, given his documented mental health issues – which are required, in the assessment of an independent doctor, to enter a medical program and avoid a strike.

A second strike incurs a four-match suspension and publication of the player’s name, and a third results in a 12-match suspension, last seen with Hawthorn’s Travis Tuck in 2010 after being found unconscious in his car by police after a suspected drug overdose.

The policy has been criticised by former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett and St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt, who both believe there is too much “wiggle room” in the policy for players.

AFL medical directors and club doctors are the only people told of a first positive illicit drugs test (distinct from an anti-doping test, although there are penalties involved for players who test positive to illicit drugs on match days).

Kennett, speaking to Seven, said he “always thought the AFL drugs policy is inappropriate and insufficient.”

“The club should be properly informed – not just the doctor – the president as well so the club and doctor can put care around him and hopefully ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Kennett said.

“The club has a responsibility from strike one.”

The clause allowing players to avoid strikes if they enter medical programs has also been criticised as allowing health issues to be used as a shield for illicit drug use.

“Players that take drugs take them because they can,” said Riewoldt in 2022.

The 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that 16.4 per cent of people aged over 14 had used an illicit drug in the previous 12 months.

Ginnivan has copped criticism for ducking for free kicks. Picture by Michael Klein

Ginnivan (L) almost took Collingwood to a Grand Final in his first full season as a Pie. Picture by Michael Klein

Collingwood players returned to training on Monday, with Ginnivan speaking briefly to media as well as club captain Darcy Moore.

“Everyone knows I’m pretty sorry and remorseful for the actions that I did, and (I’m) ready to get to work today and earn the trust back of the group,” said Ginnivan.

“Disappointment is the main feeling,” said Moore.

“Jack’s made an error of judgment.”

Asked about the invasion of privacy with the video being filmed over the wall of a toilet cubicle, Moore was blunt.

“The general public can make up their own minds about what they think of someone being filmed in a toilet cubicle.”

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, speaking on SEN, said he hoped the club were focusing on the support Ginnivan was receiving.

“When I think about Jack and I think about the situation he’s in … if you’re Craig Mcrae and if you’re a senior leader at the football club, you’ve got to consider if Jack Ginnivan was my child, how would I treat it?” Buckley said.

“You wouldn’t be throwing him under the bus, you wouldn’t be hanging him, you’d actually be supporting him as much as you can because he’s made a blue, he’s copping an appropriate response in the public sphere because they’re all shocked he’d be in that position to do that.

“Society tells us that it happens more regularly than we believe, but for a young player that’s made a blue like that, he’s going to need more support than he is a kick up the arse because he’s already judging himself harshly and accepting a whole heap of criticism as a result.”