Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell says the burgeoning leadership within his ‘Rascal Pack’ was behind an unusual moment involving Jack Ginnivan on Saturday.
The Hawks were all smiles after beating Adelaide by 27 points for their fifth win in the past seven games, but a fiery goal celebration needed some explaining after the match.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Fiery moment Jack Ginnivan shoved by incensed teammate.
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Ginnivan kicked a settling goal in the dying seconds of the third quarter and celebrated hard before he was surrounded by teammates.
One, though, seemed more fired up than the others.
Last year’s club champion Will Day yelled in Ginnivan’s face and repeatedly pushed his teammate, even grabbing his jumper for one last powerful shove.
Fans immediately began to question whether it was genuine anger — but, as it turns out, there was far more to the story.
Five minutes earlier Ginnivan burned two teammates running towards an open goal for a stretched kick that only dribbled through for a behind, and the Crows immediately rebounded to kick a major.
Yet when Ginnivan soon made up for that with his second goal of the afternoon, Day refused to let his teammate forget his mistake.
The clash was caught in full view of the cameras and, given the two did not appear to make up straight afterwards, the topic was inevitably raised in Hawthorn’s post-match press conference.
“I got warned that there might be a couple of questions about that,” Mitchell said.
The club legend said Day’s outburst stemmed from the Rascal Pack taking ownership of their own development.
“There’s this whole little group of players, they spend all their time together and they’ve all got their celebrations and all those things,” Mitchell said.
“Basically, I think what was happening was they were getting into Ginni because his two best mates were right in front of him and he didn’t see them and he had a shot at goal (five minutes earlier). They’re into him about that.”
Day himself shared a photo of Ginnivan later on Saturday night, laughing as he wrote: “Love this guy, just a fired-up celebration — chill.”
Ginnivan then joked: “We f***ing hate each other.”
Mitchell said the difference in the mindset of that group is night and day from just a couple of years ago.
“I think the banter those guys have, in a fun way, they’re having great fun playing footy as young men in their early 20s. But by the same token they’ve started to hold each other to a high account,” the coach said.
“If you look at us as a group I think they’re a good snapshot. They started off in their careers having fun, perhaps not doing everything they should be doing.
“And now when they go outside of what they know is the best thing for the team, they pull each other up and so the coaches don’t need to be getting involved. They’re basically running themselves.
“I thought the maturity that younger forward group showed today — Ginni, Dylan Moore, Connor Macdonald, Calsher Dear — after a bit of a rough second quarter, I thought that was a big part of the win.
“That goal right on three-quarter time was vital to it and Day recognised that moment and was sure to pass it on.”
Ginnivan finished with two goals and three behinds while Moore led the way with five goals and one behind.
Hawthorn’s win topped off a day they celebrated Jack Gunston’s 250th game while commemorating their 2014 premiership.
Mitchell and Gunston played in that grand final and some of their teammates had a raucous function in a private box during the game.
Moore set up Gunston for the last goal of the game and Mitchell said the moment was “something poetic”.
After losing their first five games, Hawthorn are now 5-7 and will be a tough assignment for GWS next Saturday in Launceston.
“The players have a great understanding of what our best looks like and how we can produce it, and so we’re doing that more and more often,” Mitchell said.
“We’re finally at a point where we should be competitive against every side.”
– with AAP