{"id":717832,"date":"2026-06-05T22:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/717832\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T22:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T22:55:17","slug":"news-2026-jason-dunstall-hits-back-at-jack-ginnivan-patrick-cripps-and-tom-mitchell-over-snap-for-goal-jab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/717832\/","title":{"rendered":"News 2026: Jason Dunstall hits back at Jack Ginnivan, Patrick Cripps and Tom Mitchell over snap for goal jab"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawthorn<\/a> champion Jason Dunstall has taken a dig back at a pair of Brownlow Medallists after they were part of a conversation that took a cheeky jab at him during the week. <\/p>\n

It all started with Carlton<\/a> captain Patrick Cripps<\/a> kicking the winning goal for his team against Geelong last Friday night, after taking a big mark 25m out directly in front of goal.<\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

Patrick Cripps was mobbed by teammates after slotting the match-winning goal.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Instead of kicking a drop punt, Cripps snapped the ball around the corner to put the Blues in front.<\/p>\n

A few days later, he explained his reasoning for not going for a traditional set shot with the game on the line.<\/p>\n

Cripps, speaking with Hawthorn<\/a> star Jack Ginnivan<\/a> and retired 2018 Brownlow Medallist Tom Mitchell, said going around the corner was easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat spot on the ground, I always practice that spot at training. I feel like there are certain areas inside 50 where I know what kick I do,\u201d Cripps told the Ball Magnets podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always gonna snap it. I love the snap.\u201d<\/p>\n

To which Ginnivan replied: \u201c(The snap) is so much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell added: \u201cThere\u2019s more surface area of the ball. Like, old timers would say \u2018why would you kick a snap\u2019, but it does feel more comfortable for most players.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Mitchell was giving his thoughts, Ginnivan cheekily tossed Dunstall\u2019s name up among the \u2018old timers\u2019 who would have been displeased with Cripps\u2019 choice.<\/p>\n

Dunstall, a Legend in the Australian football Hall of Fame, kicked 1254 career goals for Hawthorn, and sits third in V\/AFL history behind Tony Lockett and Gordon Coventry.<\/p>\n

\"Jason<\/p>\n

Jason Dunstall elevated to Legend status in the Hall of Fame in 2025.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

He has had a running gag for many years where he \u2018angrily\u2019 calls out players for snapping or dribbling missed shots for goal when a drop punt would have been better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always think if you look at soccer, they kick a round ball, but they always draw it to a curve. I reckon if you snap it, you take away missing to the right, unless you (hit the belly of the ball), but I just think there\u2019s less room for error than a drop punt if you practice it enough,\u201d Cripps added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as you\u2019ve got a routine with it. I\u2019ve got a routine with my snaps. Big Harry McKay came up to me and said \u2018make sure you snap it\u2019, but I always already that locked in and was snapping it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding on Friday evening, \u2018Chief\u2019 Dunstall was not copping goal kicking advice from three players with a combined 344 career goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got no problem with it. I\u2019m happy to get lectured by three blokes that have got 11 goals between them, that is absolutely fine,\u201d Dunstall told Triple M, tongue in cheek.<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/p>\n

Jack Ginnivan celebrates a goal with teammate Connor Macdonald.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be perfectly honest here … there are a couple of things when you listen to that podcast. First and foremost, I don\u2019t care how you kick it. I genuinely don\u2019t. As long as you\u2019ve practiced it and you kick the goal. That\u2019s the only thing that matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouple of things I disagreed with listening to it. Cripps says he\u2019s taking the miss to the right out of it by kicking around the corner \u2026 unless you belly the ball … so you can miss right. So you haven\u2019t actually taken that out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re thinking about that, and kicking the ball closer to the end, that means you\u2019re bringing in missing it left by overcorrecting it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say there\u2019s a greater margin for error (snapping it). It all comes back to what you do consistently at training. What are you most confident kicking. It\u2019s your responsibility to kick the goal, so kick the goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing I found amusing was he said \u2018Harry McKay came up to me and said kick it around the corner\u2019. If you\u2019re taking advice from \u2018Big H\u2019 about kicking a critical goal, you may have a problem,\u201d Dunstall joked. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just glad they\u2019re still remembering the old fella.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brownlow<\/p>\n

Brownlow Medallist Tom Mitchell.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mitchell, 33, was delisted by Collingwood at the end of 2025, calling time on his storied career.<\/p>\n

He and Cripps have combined for three Brownlow Medals, while Ginnivan has played 102 career games for Hawthorn and Collingwood, featuring in the 2023 premiership side alongside Mitchell. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall has taken a dig back at a pair of Brownlow Medallists after they were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-717832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717832","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=717832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}