Jack Ginnivan vs Lachie Schultz: Glenn McFarlane compares Hawthorn and Collingwood’s small forwards

Jack Ginnivan won a premiership with Collingwood — only to be replaced by Lachie Schultz the next year. We delve into whether the Magpies are better off and what sets the pair apart.

Jack Ginnivan is not accustomed to being a subplot in any game-day narrative, given the whirlwind of his 75-game AFL career so far.

But that’s what he will be when he runs out for Hawthorn on Friday, for the third time against Collingwood since his shock move just weeks after becoming a 2023 premiership Magpie.

There is too much at stake for both clubs for it to be anything otherwise.

Hawthorn has lost two games in a row and is in the middle of a block of games that will likely determine how far it will push this season.

And flag favourite Collingwood is looking to consolidate its top of the ladder status with a swarm of players returning, including Lachie Schultz.

Schultz, 27, and Ginnivan, 22, might both be small forwards but couldn’t be any different in their style, their five-year age bracket, or even their pay packets.

But whatever they have done before, and whatever they do next, they will be inextricably linked, given what transpired in the trade period two years ago.

The Magpies’ decision to chase the Fremantle pressure forward in 2023 solidified Ginnivan’s postseason decision to find a new home at the club he supported as a kid.

While their trades in late 2023 were completely separate with vastly different costs, there will always be a comparison to see which of the clubs “won” on the deal.

In their first meeting at Gather Round last year there was plenty of push and shove between Ginnivan and the Pies, as Collingwood held on against the fast-finishing Hawks.

Then, Hawks – and Ginnivan – dismantled the Magpies in round 19 last year. Ginnivan produced a career-best 31 disposals and two goals, while at the same time raising the ire of Magpie fans when he celebrated a goal with a sleeping motion to the cheer-squad, denoting that the Hawks had put Collingwood’s finals hopes to sleep.

While the differences between the pair couldn’t be more defined, here is an early assessment of how the two trades are faring 18 months on.

TRADING PLACES

Collingwood targeted Schultz long before Ginnivan got his hands on that 2023 premiership medal.

The Hawks did their due diligence on Ginnivan, understanding that in recruiting him, they were also taking on a player whose public profile far exceeded his on-field output.

The Magpies gave up plenty for Schultz – a selection that ended up being 38 in the 2023 draft as well as a future first round pick last year.

There were more than a few nervous Magpies fans fearing the club had sacrificed a first-round pick, particularly when, on face value, Schultz struggled to make an impact in the early months in black and white before turning his form around.

We can’t judge him on what the Dockers received for one simple reason — they passed them onto other clubs.

Pick 38 ended up in West Coast’s hands as the Eagles took Clay Hall, who played three games last year and three more this year.

The future first selection ended up in Richmond’s hands as part of the Shai Bolton trade, with the Tigers taking 195cm forward Jonty Faull, who has kicked three goals in six games.

The Hawks gave up what ended up giving pick 37 in the 2023 draft and future second and fourth round selections last year.

In return they got Ginnivan, pick 42 and Collingwood’s future second and fourth picks.

The Magpies used 37 on defender Tew Jiath, brother of Hawk Changkuoth, traded that future second to Port Adelaide as part of the Dan Houston deal which yielded Christian Moraes, and plucked key position tall Charlie West with the future fourth pick.

Jiath has played one game but is progressing well in the VFL, while West is yet to debut, he looms as a long-term key forward after impressively kicking 18 goals in seven VFL games.

The Hawks traded that pick 42 to Brisbane (who chose Luke Lloyd), their future second was used on mobile defender Noah Mraz, while they didn’t use the future fourth.

DIFFERENT STROKES

It’s near impossible to compare Ginnivan and Schultz given they are at different stages of their careers.

Ginnivan is 22; Schultz is more seasoned at 27, with a far bigger performance resume than the Hawks small forward, despite the fact Ginnivan has what Schultz is still chasing – a premiership medal.

Schultz is a pressure forward whose impact isn’t solely measured on disposals and goals, but on his capacity to impact as a defensive forward. He excels at that.

In contrast, Ginnivan is as much about impact as anything else, as a forward capable of sparking his team in a heartbeat, with a canny ability to find the goals being his best assets.

Schultz has played 116 games in seven seasons for 130 goals. Ginnivan has played 75 in five seasons for 96 goals.

But in terms of finals, Ginnivan has played eight compared to Schultz’s two (for Fremantle).

And in terms of price-packet comparisons, Ginnivan earns around $450,000 per season, while Schultz’s salary ranges around $650,000.

2024 VERSIONS

Learning the Collingwood system isn’t straightforward, as Schultz can attest.

While his pressure numbers last year were highlighted ad nauseam by his teammates and his coach, Magpie fans worried the club had oversubscribed for a player who initially had trouble hitting the scoreboard.

He admitted that an out-of-character suspension for striking Blake Acres early last season was the result of frustration getting the better of him.

And the keyboard warriors went to work on him so much that he took himself off social media for a period.

He told this masthead at the time: “I think in the early days I struggled to comprehend it and I let it get to me a little bit more than I should have.

“People read so much into stats and don’t know enough about what certain roles are on the field so, yeah I had to turn off my messages to the public. As soon as I didn’t kick a goal my inbox would just light-up.”

But the longer the season went on, the better he got, with his rating as sixth in the AFL for tackles inside 50 and a matchwinning performance against the Lions winning over the fans.

Still, his 2024 impact of 20 games for 24 goals was a sticking point for some Magpies fans, even if the club insisted his impact was crucial.

Ginnivan almost over-delivered in year one compared to the club’s expectations.

ENTER LACHIE SCHULTZ 🤯#AFLPiesLionspic.twitter.com/VkbnRJp9BL

— AFL (@AFL) August 17, 2024

Jack Ginnivan says goodnight to the Magpies 👀#AFLHawksPiespic.twitter.com/h2OUFlpWNY

— AFL (@AFL) July 20, 2024

He played 23 games for 28 goals, and formed a key role as part of the ‘rascal’ pack with the Hok Ball brand suiting his game style.

The Hawks had been acutely aware that his profile off the field always exceeded his impact on it, but have been pleasantly surprised in the way he has won his teammates over with hard work (an improvement on his time at Collingwood) as well as with his elite football brain, which he has been happy to articulate in footy meetings.

Even when he sent a cheeky but none-too-subtle message to former teammate Brodie Grundy in the lead-up to last year’s semi finals – which went viral and infuriated Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley – the Hawks didn’t chastise him.

They took a different approach, counselling him that he was “desperately unlucky” to have a profile that other more experienced players haven’t got, believing it would have gone through to the keeper if someone else sent it.

2025 VERSIONS

Schultz has been in almost career-best form according to Craig McRae, despite missing three games with a hamstring injury and the past two after a sickening concussion.

In contrast, Ginnivan was sent back to the VFL for one game after struggling for form before responding well in the last five weeks.

“He’s sort of having a career-best year for us and then goes out with a hamstring and then he gets (a) concussion,” Craig McRae said of Schultz.

“He’s just a barometer for our pressure (and) he has been for the last 12 months.

“We’re not expecting him to go out and be our best player, that’s unrealistic, we just want him to play his role and show everyone his toughness that he brings every week.”

Jack Ginnivan played 42 games for the Magpies.

Ginnivan embraces Will Hoskin-Elliott after his first game against the Magpies.

Ginnivan kicked only two goals in his first four games – both against Essendon in round 1 – which led the Hawks to drop him from the Easter Monday clash with Geelong.

He could have spat the dummy or gone with the ‘woe is me’ approach, but this masthead understands he won praise internally for the manner in which he embraced the demotion.

He ended up having 22 disposals and four goals in his one VFL match, but the club saw it as more about his off-field input than his on-field output.

Ginnivan’s report card back from the Box Hill footy department had plenty of green ticks: he was courteous with the staffers (most of whom are volunteers), embraced his Box Hill teammates, had some fun, and never got the sulks.

As a result, Sam Mitchell brought him straight back into the AFL side, and in the five AFL games since, he has kicked 8.5 including three lots of two goals.

The Magpies love what Shultz brings to their forward half.

VERDICT

Schultz is a better player than Ginnivan right now, which shouldn’t surprise anyone given their respective careers to date.

On Champion Data rankings, Schultz was ranked the 125th forward last year, which was surprisingly one better than Ginnivan at 126th.

But this year, the Magpie has halved that rating – 59th – while Ginnivan is ranked 110th.

But both clubs would be content with what they got out of that awkward 2023 trade period.

The Magpies snared a player whose defensive pressure inside forward 50m was precisely what they needed, one who fits neatly into a team with arguably the best crop of small forwards.

No one will be complaining about the relatively high trade capital if Schultz ends with one, or perhaps more, premiership medals.

Ginnivan won a premiership with the Magpies in 2023.

That was his last game for the Pies before being traded to Hawthorn.

But the Hawks are equally content with how their trade for Ginnivan has panned out, given he is still far from the finished product.

The gap between his public profile and footy output – which was a chasm in his early years at Collingwood – is starting to close a little more now. The scope for improvement remains high.

So how will Ginnivan handle taking on the Pies again on footy’s biggest stage?

Given what’s transpired in the past, the one certainty is that he won’t be daunted, in fact he’ll relish it.

Originally published as Jack Ginnivan vs Lachie Schultz: Glenn McFarlane compares Hawthorn and Collingwood’s small forwards