Jack Ginnivan being ‘discriminated against’ as free kick furore erupts

The Jack Ginnivan free kick debate has continued, with calls for the star’s coach to do more to defend the teenage sensation.

Surely this isn’t fine. Picture: Mark Stewart

The Jack Ginnivan free kick furore has continued as veteran coach Ross Lyon called for Collingwood mentor Craig McRae to do more to defend his player

It comes after AFL legend Leigh Matthews said he felt “sick” and “disturbed” over Ginnivan failing to receive a free kick following a high tackle on the weekend from Essendon’s Mason Redman, which ended with the youngster in a headlock.

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It’s been a strong talking point throughout the season as Ginnivan has also been accused of dropping his knees in order to turn innocuous tackles into high contact.

Speaking on Channel 9’s Footy Classified on Wednesday, Eddie McGuire asked Bombers legend Matthew Lloyd and Lyon if the Magpies star was being “victimised”.

Lloyd agreed he was, while Lyon added: “He’s being discriminated against.”

Lloyd said: “I think Leigh Matthews speaks for most people in the industry of how they are feeling for Jack Ginnivan.”

He also called on Collingwood coach McRae to take a stand on the issue.

McRae fronted the media on Wednesday to say the club had “moved on” from the incident after the AFL admitted the umpire got the call wrong.

Redman with the hit. Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

And some. Picture: Mark Stewart

Lloyd asked if former Fremantle coach Lyon had ever put concerns a player was getting targeted on the public record

“I spoke about Fyfe, I didn’t like the treatment,” he said. “I said if the umpires don’t look after him, we will. That was a message to Nathan. We’re not going to cop it.

“I think it is now time for McRae to come out and go ‘enough, we need to look after him if the umpires won’t’.

“Watching the Redman vision, Ginnivan should have got up and really got stuck in. In our day, you’re up and you’re into that bloke.

“I’m seeing those clips where they’re coming in with intent, generally not to lay a legitimate tackle.

“I don’t like it. I don’t like what I’m seeing. Does he drop a little bit? A lot of those are swinging, reckless tackles. He needs to be looked after better than he’s being looked after.”

However, former Collingwood president McGuire disagreed and said it was clear the club was trying to change how it dealt with these situations.

“(Collingwood’s GM of football) Graham Wright and the club were into the AFL this week,” McGuire said.

“I think Collingwood are actually trying to change the whole way they approach things — they used to have me out the front all the time — just going behind the scenes on it. There is enough coming from everywhere else.

“But back in the day when (former coach) Tommy Hafey would do a press conference, he’d go ‘right boys, off the record, this is what’s going on’.

“They actually brought the rule in because David Parkin used that is a tactic. If they had a big game, he could come out and bake the umpires and then would get a better run the week after. It’s starting to creep back.

“I’m not mad on it. There are ways to go through it if you’re a coach and a club. Rather than just going at it in the media. That’s what our job is.”

Ross Lyon said Ginnivan was "discriminated against". Photo: Channel 9

Lyon called for more from McRae. Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

There was mass outcry over the lack of a free kick for the tackle which ended with Redman holding Ginnivan in a headlock.

The Magpies youngster also masterfully trolled the decision, making it his Instagram profile picture.

But speaking on Sportsday earlier this week, Matthews said the free kick not being called was “symbolic” of “where the game is”.

“The fabric of the game’s being attacked, in my view, so I am disturbed,” Matthews said. “I’ve calmed down a little bit – I couldn’t sleep Sunday night thinking about it. It’s the symbolism of it that just disturbs me.

“I felt sick because (of) the fabric of our game. One the fabric of the game is umpires treating every player the same … that was virtually not only a high contact headlock, it was bordering on unduly rough play from Mason Redman – and the best umpire in the game, Matt Stevic, didn’t blow the whistle. Now I didn’t blame Stevic, I thought to myself: ‘What are they doing to our game?’

“And when I say ‘they’, I mean Richard Goyder and the (AFL) Commission, who are the only body who can actually change rules, and Gillon McLachlan and his cohort of advisers that are making the game easier for the tackler and harder for the bloke with the ball.

“Jack Ginnivan, he was victimised, I’d love to speak to Matt Stevic – I’m not saying consciously victimised – but when he (Stevic) saw Jack Ginnivan take possession and when he saw him being tackled, his first thought was to look at Jack Ginnivan.

“What did he do? Did he lower his body height?’ And even if you lower your body height a fraction when you sense the tackler coming, that’s kind of automatic. But he seemed to be watching Ginnivan – not what the tackler did and that’s the fabric of our game.”

I mean it’s not a great look. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Fox Footy’s AFL 360 also took aim at the situation earlier in the week.

Mark Robinson said the AFL has “lost control” over its officiating of Ginnivan, with the Pies star not getting the whistle like other players.

“I do think he lowered a little bit,” Robinson said.

“But the crudeness of that tackle, it was a hard, crude tackle. We must outlaw that ahead of him dropping a little bit. We just need common sense.

“This one, that is a crude tackle, and the crude tackle must be paid against on something like that. We’ve lost control and we’ve got to get it back.”

Gerard Whateley said Ginnivan had been “victimised” throughout the whole dropping the knees tackle debate.

“I simply don’t accept that (Ginnivan was responsible) as a premise,” he said.

Originally published as Jack Ginnivan being ‘discriminated against’ as free kick furore erupts