Jack Ginnivan has developed a reputation for drawing his head in high contact, with standing experts accusing the teenager of milking free throws.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae has pledged to seek clarification from the AFL after the referees forgot to whistle when the Magpies’ little striker Jack Ginnivan was caught high during Sunday’s contest on Monday. ‘MCG.
In the second half of Collingwood’s thrilling four-point victory over Hawthorn, Ginnivan looked like Hawks defender Changkuoth Jiath had a free kick, but didn’t give it a free kick.
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There were at least two other cases in which the referees shouted “play” after the Magpies’ young weapon appeared to be highly attacked.
The 19-year-old has quickly developed a reputation for making head-to-head contact, with standing experts accusing the Pies teenager of exaggerating collisions to take free throws.
“Is that the reputation you want to have as an AFL player?” Former St Kilda defender Leigh Montagna told Fox Footy’s First Crack.
“Do you want this to be your brand? Do you want to be identified as a player who gets up and throws for free throws?
“As soon as he receives the ball, he is trying to get a free kick. Or he’s falling forward, raising his arm, playing with it.
“I do not think he is in the spirit of the game.
“He’s not being rewarded for the free throws he should have received because of his reputation in his career.”
Speaking to reporters at the post-match press conference, McRae was outraged at suggestions that Ginnivan’s style of play helped prevent free kicks from being awarded.
“Playing free throws is an interesting way of saying it. I think the players are very good at avoiding tackles and learning how to dodge them and make it difficult to tackle, ”he said.
“We are asking our players to spend time on the ball, which means you will probably have frontal contact, but we want to keep the ball in front of us.
“Being tackled versus being tackled, we practice. I think it’s a skill. It forces the tackle to really be at their best.
“Is it within the rules? There are no rules against that at the moment.
“Maybe I need a little bit of clarity because, as far as I know, it’s a free kick, so we’ll have a little bit of clarity around that.
“But thinking that you can’t charge a free kick because we don’t like you shooting free throws, I’m not sure that’s the case. I’m just going to get some clarity on that. “
Meanwhile, Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell told reporters he had no problem with his players’ fighting technique.
“The smart little strikers, many of them in his bag have the ability to draw a free kick,” he said.
“Paul Puopolo was a guy I played with for a long time and he was a teacher. There is a real art and if you are a small striker, having it in your bag is very useful.
“Ginnivan has a really good ability to draw a real free kick and our players were very aware of that coming into the game and I thought they were dealing very well with these situations.”
Collingwood finally got a 10.12 (72) to 10.8 (68) victory on Sunday, continuing its impressive rise under freshman coach Craig McRae.
The Magpies will face defending champions Melbourne at the MCG on Monday 13 June, with the first rebound scheduled at 3.20pm AEST.