{"id":152799,"date":"2025-09-18T20:16:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T20:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/152799\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T20:16:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T20:16:23","slug":"star-eschews-comparisons-to-marcus-bontempelli-nick-daicos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/152799\/","title":{"rendered":"Star eschews comparisons to Marcus Bontempelli, Nick Daicos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI still kicked a few goals \u2026 had like 15 touches, but when the game was on the line, I couldn\u2019t be there. So yeah, in the off-season, I worked extremely hard to get fit because I never want to have that feeling again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s 22, but he speaks more like a 32-year-old. He\u2019s unapologetically himself, but he\u2019s also honest and raw when he reflects on his mistakes. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s not what the public might expect. Ginnivan is one of the most polarising players in the game.<\/p>\n

From the perfectly planned goal celebrations that Hawthorn fans love<\/a> and opposition fans hate, to the way he turned a mirror on the media pack hounding him at Adelaide airport last week \u2013 everyone has their own opinion of him.<\/p>\n

On the surface, it might seem that Ginnivan is an attention seeker. <\/p>\n

But he says he\u2019s a little embarrassed by the spotlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess there is parts of, like, \u2018Why me?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m obviously not in the best 50 [players] in the comp \u2013 I\u2019m not like Bontempelli, I\u2019m not like [Nick] Daicos. I\u2019m different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a good footballer \u2013 I\u2019m not unbelievable at the moment, [but] I hope I get to that stage.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, it doesn\u2019t make much sense to me. It\u2019s a little bit embarrassing when all my teammates are walking around me and I get to the bus and, I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s sort of awkward.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even if he\u2019s not the game\u2019s best player, Ginnivan has come to understand since his trade from Collingwood after the 2023 premiership that his actions and behaviour can impact those around him, including his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 19, 20, I didn\u2019t understand the responsibility I had as a footballer, and who Jack Ginnivan was and how big an impact and influence he had on others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince coming to Hawthorn, and probably learning a bit about myself, I\u2019ve done some self-reflecting.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t remember what the name is, but me and [coach] Sam [Mitchell]<\/a> did a self-reflection task and that was really good. It talks about how much impact you have on the group and influence \u2013 and it\u2019s hard to say that because I don\u2019t feel that, but everyone around me tells me I do, which is weird. I understand it, but it\u2019s always difficult to understand that from your own perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yeah, definitely that has been a big one to know and feel how much impact what you say or what you do is going to have on others.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Ginnivan is asked about Mitchell, everything changes. He uncrosses his arms and sits up straighter in his chair. A beaming smile spreads across his face. He loves Mitchell and is terrified of him, all at once.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, it\u2019s when Ginnivan is discussing how important the coach is to him that the man himself walks into the room. Mitchell is the one who names the self-reflection task \u2013 it\u2019s called the Johari Window.<\/p>\n

\"Ginnivan\u2019s<\/p>\n

Ginnivan\u2019s known for his goal celebrations.Credit: Fox Footy<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you two talking about?\u201d Mitchell asks sternly as he comes through the glass door of the CEO\u2019s office at Waverley Park, where the interview is taking place. He wants you to think he\u2019s joking when he\u2019s saying that. But he isn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was talking about learning about how I have influence on others,\u201d Ginnivan responds.<\/p>\n

He might be slightly embarrassed by the spotlight, but Ginnivan is not afraid of it. He kicked five goals in just his 10th game to win an Anzac Medal at the Magpies in 2022. And he\u2019s been in dangerous form ahead of Friday night\u2019s much-hyped preliminary final against Geelong.<\/p>\n

He describes himself as \u201cspontaneous, adventurous, easygoing\u201d. A \u201cno-fuss operator\u201d.<\/p>\n

But as a footballer, he says, he is \u201cnow a hard-working, disciplined person within the four walls, 100 per cent, who has worked extremely hard\u201d to get to where he is.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s turned goal celebrations into an art form.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also just love, like, since I was a younger age, the game of football and I\u2019ve always wanted to play it in a way that makes me smile and carry on,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like if I was playing with my best mates at home in Castlemaine, like, I\u2019d be carrying on probably the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Ginnivan has learnt two important things.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learnt to trust people around the four walls \u2026 and that Jack Ginnivan is not always right.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about his on- and off-field persona, Ginnivan admits it can be difficult to handle and that he has to approach every situation on its merits.<\/p>\n

\u201cNavigating [the public and private aspects of his life] is a mission in itself, but I don\u2019t know \u2026 from a performance point of view, that stuff [his past public-facing incidents] has never got over the top of me or overawed me for the big occasions or anything like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love playing in big games. I\u2019ve always felt like I\u2019ve stepped up in big games when the pressure\u2019s on. But that embarrassment and awkwardness [that comes from having a big profile] is probably two words to describe it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI still kicked a few goals \u2026 had like 15 touches, but when the game was on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-152799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}