JACK Ginnivan knew he needed it, but it still stung. Instead of playing in the Easter Monday blockbuster against Geelong inside a packed MCG, he drove down the highway 24 hours earlier to play in an empty GMHBA Stadium.
It was the right decision, not just for Hawthorn, but for Ginnivan.
The 22-year-old exceeded expectations in almost every way in his first season at Waverley Park after a sudden exit from Collingwood, just weeks after becoming a premiership player in 2023.
Internally, Hawthorn was pleasantly surprised by how low maintenance the box-office star was. Head down, bum up, Ginnivan quietly banked his first pre-season and played 23 of 25 games in 2024, kicking 28 goals to finish ninth in the Peter Crimmins Medal, following a season where he helped the Hawks return to September and evolve the club's DNA.
But last summer was interrupted due to injuries that prevented him from training consistently and contributed to his slow start to 2025. He kicked two goals across the first five rounds and was dropped on Good Friday after the Gather Round loss to Port Adelaide.
Ginnivan lasted one week at Box Hill. Sam Mitchell recalled him instantly after kicking four goals from 22 touches against Geelong's VFL side. The numbers popped off the page, but it was his buy-in as a teammate and his impact on all members of Box Hill's staff that sealed the swift AFL return.
Since then, the Castlemaine product has kicked five goals from three games back at AFL level, where he has returned to near his game-shifting best, averaging 19 disposals, 8.3 score involvements and 5.7 inside 50s.
"It actually gave myself confidence that I'm still a good player," Ginnivan told AFL.com.au after the 35-point over Melbourne. "Sometimes you can forget that when you have a few down weeks. It's a hard game. The tables can turn really quick and you think, 'Jeez, I can't play footy anymore.'
"At the end of the day, all my coaches believe I can still play footy, I can still kick goals, and my workrate has been the thing, I think the last three weeks I've just outworked my opponent, especially late in games."
Before Ginnivan ended the 2023 season with a premiership medallion hanging around his neck, the small forward spent a six-week block in the middle of winter playing in the VFL against the likes of Frankston, Footscray, Sandringham and Werribee, before he forced his way back into Craig McRae's team on the eve of September. That memory helped him not drop his bundle when he was dropped last month.
"I feel like having that lived experience definitely helped for sure and having people in my corner; at Collingwood it was Tom Mitchell, now it's 'Gunners' [Jack Gunston] and 'Punky' [Luke Breust]," Ginnivan said. "Everyone goes through form slumps, but to come out the other side and to play positive, good football is really rewarding."
Like many players around the competition, Ginnivan is still managing issues with his body, but he has removed other things in his life that affected his form. The little details now matter even more.
"To be honest, it [injury issues] are still ongoing – ankle, groin, back – there are a lot of things that people don't see," he said. "No excuses for my start to the season, but I'm just trying to really home in on the things I can control: recovery, diet, all those little things that help, even the mental side of the game and taking out distractions in my life that aren't needed to get in the right head space."
From the pantomime villain with the bleached blond hair to the deep array of celebrations, Ginnivan has become one of the most polarising figures in football with one of the biggest social media footprints – 167k followers on Instagram, 124.7k on TikTok – but he arrived in the AFL with zero fanfare as a rookie pick out of the Bendigo Pioneers. He played five games at the tail end of his debut season, before exploding into a sensation in 2022 after that Anzac Day Medal-winning performance in 2022.
Nick Watson lives in the same stratosphere as Ginnivan right now, but he arrived in the AFL with a cult following after a dazzling underage career that resulted in Hawthorn picking the 170cm goalsneak at pick No.5 in the 2023 Telstra AFL Draft. Love him or loathe him, his form means you can't ignore him. Watson attracts fans of all ages wearing wizard hats in support of a moniker that has quickly become one of the best known in the game at just 20. Ginnivan is protective of Watson and keen to help him deal with the potholes that come with fast fame.
"I love the bloke that much and just want to see him do well and not get crucified in the media and see his mental health go down the way mine did at certain stages," he said.
"He is my best mate. Yesterday we had breakfast together, lunch together, dinner together. I just love being around him. If I can be there for him for anything, kicking goals off the field and making sure he is in a good space, that's important to me."
Hawthorn is 7-2 for the first time since 2013 but hasn't been consistently convincing just yet, including on Saturday where the first three quarters were far from impressive, before it put the foot down in a final quarter burst to dispatch Melbourne by 35 points.
Ginnivan said the Hawks' biggest test of 2025 to date awaits this Thursday night when they face Gold Coast at the Suns' home away from home, TIO Stadium in Darwin, where the Queenslanders have won their past seven games, dating back to the 67-point win over Hawthorn in 2022.
"Maybe the media aren't rating us as much and we are still winning by 50," he said. "Obviously, there is so much room for improvement, but you've still got to be positive and happy when you win by 30, 40 points. It is a hard game, whoever you are playing against. Today it took three quarters to break Melbourne. Our biggest challenge of the year is to go up to Darwin and face Gold Coast. But anything is possible this year for us."
Ginnivan is back in business. And that's good for Hawthorn's business, both on-field and off-field.
