AFL Grand Final 2023: Pat Lipinski the sub for Saturday’s GF, Jack Payne set to miss

The teams are in for the grand final, as the Pies look to find a spark up forward and the Lions make an agonising choice down back. See the full 22s, subs and latest selection news.

Collingwood’s thirst for grand final goals and a 16th premiership has seen it turn to livewire Jack Ginnivan in a revamped forward line that has forced Patrick Lipinski out of the best 22.

The Magpies have scraped through to the premiership decider despite kicking just 118 points in their dour qualifying final and preliminary final victories.

But coach Craig McRae hopes the spark of Ginnivan – alongside Billy Frampton, who has replaced Dan McStay – will rediscover their scoring mojo at the MCG.

Lipinski is the club’s best GPS runner but he has been relegated to the substitute role that Ginnivan played in the first two finals.

Brisbane Lions made the agonising call to leave a fully fit Jack Payne out of the team after understudy Darcy Gardiner played the game of his life on Charlie Curnow last week.

Ginnivan kicked five goals on Anzac Day last year in front of 84,205 to show he could shine on the big stage.

The 20-year-old’s grand final call-up is reward for four months of hard work.

The cheeky Castlemaine kid spent 10 weeks out of the AFL side this season before an off-field transformation earned him a place as the 23rd man in the first two finals.

Jack Ginnivan will start on Saturday. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Collingwood leaders privately believe that Ginnivan’s three-month transformation at the back-end of the home-and-away season will set him up for a decade as an elite AFL forward.

Magpies’ dietitian Jonanne Shinewell visited Ginnivan and Nathan Murphy’s home about three times a week mid-year as Ginnivan overhauled his diet and started to set the standards at training.

While KISS will rock the MCG crowd on Saturday, when the switch flicked for Ginnivan mid-year it was like a Kylie Minogue lyric – it was in his eyes.

“He was like a dog to a bone – he just goes 110 per cent at every drill now,” close mate Isaac Quaynor told this mast head earlier this month.

“You can see the hunger in his eye. His tackling is ferocious, he’s classy and I think everyone has the ability to bring that it’s whether or you want to.

“It’s often a choice, and he’s still bringing it to this day.”

Often it was Scott Pendlebury training at halfback and struggling to keep up with Ginnivan, who buzzed around the training track in those winter months as if it was Saturday’s grand final.

Even Quaynor, the club’s most powerful athlete, was on the end of the Ginnivan grunt.

“He’s been even challenging me on the track and tackling me and letting me know about it. It’s always good banter between me and him,” Quaynor said.

“He’s always had it in him, but he seems to be a person who sometimes making a couple of mistakes.

“He’s almost learnt the hard way that hard work gets reward and you can kind of create your own luck when you work hard.

“He’s been doing that the last two or three months, and it’s so good to see.”

Jack Payne looks set to miss the GF. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Pat Lipinski will be the sub for the Pies. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Quaynor thought round 24 was arguably Ginnivan’s greatest game outside of those heroics on Anzac Day last year.

Ginnivan’s 17.1 AFL Player Ratings points was the best of his career and he kicked three goals, the same tally as Essendon that night.

But he also had three goal assists, and that selfless mindset stood out to Hawthorn legend Luke Hodge as well as the Collingwood coaches.

Backline coach Justin Leppitsch conceded there would have been a temptation for Ginnivan to take those shots for goal after a long spell in the VFL.

But Ginnivan was instead giving them off.

“You just watch his game – he’s running better, he’s covering the ground and he’s winning the ball and his team-orientation,” Leppitsch said.

Referencing the drug strike from a Torquay error in pre-season that got a grossly unfortunate Ginnivan in the naughty books, Leppitsch said: “We watch these boys grow to men in front of our eyes”.

The average score of 74.7 points by teams this finals series is the fifth-fewest over the past 62 years (excluding 2020 when games were shortened).

But the Lions boast the No. 1 attack in the AFL with Joe Daniher (58 goals), Charlie Cameron (56), Eric Hipwood (41), Zac Bailey (27), Lincoln McCarthy (26) and Cam Rayner (23) all lighting up games this year.

The Magpies’ grand final team contains only three players who have kicked more than 20 goals – Brody Mihocek (46), Jamie Elliott (39) and Bobby Hill (29).

Ginnivan’s father broke the news on social media. Photo by Michael Klein.

Ginnivan’s father, Craig, broke the news his son had been promoted into the 22 on Facebook on Thursday.

The elated father posted: “He’s in the 22, wow we go pies” with emojis of a medallion and trophy.

The unchanged Lions are expected to lock Jarryd Lyons in as substitute with their team settled in September.

Payne (ankle) passed his fitness tests, but they have decided to play it safe and stick with the team that got them to the grand final.

Gardiner registered 11 spoils as he kept Curnow to one goal and one mark inside 50m last week.

He was only denied a miraculous goal in the last quarter by teammate Lincoln McCarthy marking the ball on the goal line.

PIES

B:Murphy, Moore, Howe

HB: Maynard, Frampton, Quaynor

C: Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Markov

HF: Hill, Mihocek, Elliott

F: McCreery, De Goey, J.Daicos

FOL: Cox, N.Daicos, Crisp

I/C: Mitchell, Cameron, Hoskin-Elliott, Ginnivan

EMG: Lipinski, Noble, Macrae, Harrison

IN: Frampton

OUT: Lipinski (Sub), McStay (injured)

LIONS

B: Starcevich, Andrews, Gardiner

HB: McKenna, Lester, Coleman

C: McCluggage, Dunkley, Zorko

HF: Cameron, Hipwood, Ah Chee

F: Rayner, Daniher, Bailey

FOL: McInerney, Neale, Berry

I/C: Robertson, McCarthy, Fletcher, Wilmot

EMG: Lyons, Tunstill, Fort, Payne

IN: None

OUT: Lyons (Sub)

TRACK WATCH: STEELE’S MESSAGE FOR FRAMPTON

Collingwood’s 2010 premiership hero Steele Sidebottom has urged grand final inclusion Billy Frampton to bring his natural aggression to Saturday’s clash with Brisbane Lions as the mystery of the Magpies’ sub remained unsolved ahead of the final team dropping late on Thursday.

The Magpies closed out their on-field grand final preparations with a last big hitout before a packed crowd at the AIA Centre, with preliminary final sub Jack Ginnivan and Patrick Lipinski starting the match simulation on the interchange before being thrust into the action.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae announced Frampton’s return to the team in place of the injured Dan McStay on Wednesday, just a day after Taylor Adams ruled himself out.

Sidebottom said Frampton’s ability to impact a contest would be one of his strengths going into his first AFL final.

“The big strength I believe in ‘Chooka’ (Frampton) is, I believe, he has got that real aggression, and that stands up in big games,” Sidebottom said.

“Guys that crack in … we are not expecting him to go out there and do too much, we just want him to create a contest, whether it is forward or back.

“But it would be nice if he did kick five (goals).”

Billy Frampton and Nathan Murphy on Thursday. Picture: Michael Klein.

Luckless defender John Noble had initially been seen as a possible inclusion at the start of the week before the Magpies opted to go with Frampton, who spent Thursday’s match simulation session in attack.

Sidebottom said he felt so much for his good mate Adams and McStay, who were both on hand to watch the Magpies go through their final paces.

“I’ve got faith in our coaches to make the right (selection) decisions,” he said. “It is disappointing to see guys miss out with Tay and Macca (McStay).

“It seems like this time of the year there are always those stories and as disappointing as it is for them, they have still got a role to play for us.

“It presents an opportunity for ‘Chooka’ (Frampton) and I am really excited for him.”

Nick Daicos spent some time at half forward in the early match simulation but seemingly had a licence to roam wherever he wanted, including through the midfield.

Some of the club’s past greats were in attendance, including Collingwood Team of the Century wingman and dual 1953 and 1958 premiership player Thorold Merrett, who will turn 90 on Saturday.

The players presented Merrett with a birthday cake and sang happy birthday to him before starting training.

“You would have seen Thorold Merrett coming in, he played in ‘53 and ‘58 flags and it is his 90th birthday on Saturday,” Sidebottom said.

“We always look to our past and they are as much a part of it as we are.”

Originally published as AFL Grand Final 2023: Pat Lipinski the sub for Saturday’s GF, Jack Payne set to miss