When I watched Jack Ginnivan celebrate Collingwood’s round 1 victory over St Kilda by performing an ode to influencer life – selfie stick inspired live camera with all-star cameo, pouting duck face, crowd interaction, outrageously confident self-talk, and way too much attention on the hair – I felt very awkward around the optics of a 19-year-old apprentice displaying an unseen level of freedom in celebration.
How would it be perceived by the football world?
Sure, I’ll admit, there was an enormous sense of jealousy that I never had hair as good as Jack Ginnivan – spikier and darker, absolutely, but gothic spiky hair went out the moment Adam Lambert became a mainstream goth thing, which coincided with the rise of Astro Boy as a pop culture demi-god through his evolution from anime pioneer to the western world, to sell-out movie star, which, in turn, completely neutralised the underground revolution of toilet brush hair ever really gathering momentum.
Silky and luscious is the dream for all genders, and perhaps, PERHAPS, that is why Kane Cornes went BANG at poor Jack Ginnivan?
Hair envy is real.
Magpies head coach Craig McRae and Jack Ginnivan of the Magpies celebrate with a selfie after beating St Kilda. (Photo by Quinn Rooney / Getty Images)
So, in the name of good times, let’s break down the VOLKANO’s whacking of Jack Givvinan.
“(Collingwood) finished 17th last year. You’ve beaten St Kilda, who no one expects will do anything this year, stop carrying on,” he said.
Response: Anyone else tip St Kilda? Gulp.
“That’s Jack Ginnivan, you’ve played six games. Just relax. Earn some respect in the game before you go on carrying on like that.”
This is totally fair from a 300-game superstar of the code who debuted in 2001 under the coaching guidance of Mark Williams – a coach who furiously sent the runner to Warren Tredrea after he celebrated a goal by taking a bow to the Preliminary Final crowd.
Humility or bust under the tutelage of Mark Williams.
The ‘earning of respect’ piece is difficult to navigate under the modern-day coaching philosophy of peace, love and harmony. Coaches are mentors, friends, confidantes. They no longer operate with fear being the sole deterrent for conformity to “the way”.
Example A: Justin Langer.
Individuals are embraced for their strengths, club psychologists demand it, which is why Adam Simpson recruits exclusively from private schools, because public school kids, from broken homes, are the devils spawn. It is imperative for a positive club culture that respect is no longer earned in the old-fashioned way of games played, tackles laid, blood spilt and whatever rookie year hazing rituals that were stolen from the NBA playbook.
You get respect in the modern day just by being on time. And that must be a great thing for the welfare of teenagers entering the ruthlessness of professional sport.
In theory, it is a magical system that has a huge push for equality and acceptance, everyone having a shared voice, and it is a system that can work well within the confines of a playing group with reach into the administration arm of that club.
The challenge? Respect might be immediate in your club environment, but it is not guaranteed by your opposition, their supporters, the broader football community, or old schoolers like Kane Cornes who had to tackle, bleed and be bullied to earn that respect just from their team-mates.
“You don’t see Geelong carrying on like that. You don’t see Richmond and dynasty teams carry on like that. Earn some respect before you start carrying on like that, saying it was ‘light work’ and ‘the first of many’. There’s a thing about winning in a humble way.”
I loved this quote because it is at the heart of why Kane didn’t like the optics, why I was surprised, why anyone who would classify themselves as old school would have found the media work of Collingwood, and teenage heart throb, Jack Givvinan, as way over the top and borderline disrespectful.
Geelong and Richmond dynasties? They were old!! They’re a different generation. Most of those premiership players would be from the same football environments as Kane Cornes. You earned respect through your actions, through your performance, not just by turning up. I guarantee they were all at home, watching, with their head in their hands bemoaning the way footy is changing.
Young Givvinan’s mob, Generation Z, is the best equipped collection of humans on the planet to navigate media and technology.
So, of course Jack was a master at utilising the angles of a live stream so he was always in shot, using the right angle to ensure the light bounced off his hair the right way, spoke confidently and into the camera, and was no doubt top of the board when Collingwood’s media team were working through which player would showcase their win in the opening round.
The kid was a natural.
Kane is right, though. Imagine your workplace if the apprentice or first year graduate took control of the socials and tagged the firm you’d beaten out of that huge contract with hashtags like #lightwork and #firstofmany. That isn’t ending well for anyone.
Us old schoolers simply aren’t going to survive this current iteration of society.
BRING BACK THE VHS!
Ballyhoo
Roar Rookie
and Kane reckons Buddy isn't the top 50!
Ballyhoo
Roar Rookie
as old time Tour da Frances riders have said, "when you grow up hard and hungry, riding the Tour isn't hard work!"
XI
Roar Guru
Diversity is its own sake. Answer me this: do you think it's likely that there has been just 1 indigenous umpire and no indigenous head coaches in the league because none were qualified? Plus she is not the worst umpire. That goes to Razor or Nicholls.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
Going woke in your context is choosing "diversity" for the sake of diversity. We've seen what that achieves in the umpiring sector, where the diversity hire is by far the worst umpire in the league.
Jonno
Guest
WCE are such precious puppies. Already firming as wooden spoon favourites that will add to their silver spoons! How did rioli get off that, it will open a can of worms the AFL must appeal that decision.
Jonno
Guest
WCE are such precious puppies! Already firming as wooden spoon favourites that will add to their silver spoons.???? How did rioli get off that that has opened a can of worms. AFL must appeal that decision!
XI
Roar Guru
Oh FFS. This is why you need a diverse group to pick. Otherwise you'll end up picking the same people. If the AFL goes this route it will end up as rugby union. Personally I think it could stand to be more diverse because Australia is more diverse. Diverse ideas and approaches are how you grow and change and improve. If you follow the same ideas, you stagnate and die. And whiteness is a predictor of success. That doesn't mean all white people are successful, it's just they are more likely to be because of historical trends. I'd love to see you define "going woke"
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
Probably explains why you're not an AFL recruiter I guess. Going woke isn't going to win you games.
WCE
Roar Rookie
No such thing as a stereotypical supporter complete and utter nonsense.
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
I'll give you a tip, whiteness doesn't dictate how much you will struggle - that's a myth perpetuated by the race warriors who want to divide us into groups. I've seen it first hand many many times. The best indicator of who will struggle always was and always will be the attitude of the parents. It always starts with parenting. For example, the kids who are most likely to succeed in this country are Asian. Why? Because of the effort their parents put in.
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
I wouldn't assume that you're less likely to have off field issues just because you go to a private school. Believe it or not, there's lots of well rounded people who don't have much money.
sven
Roar Rookie
kane cornes, a tea cup seeking a storm .... or is it the other way around ?
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
He may speak his mind...the problem is, his mind is empty.
Peter Brendan
Roar Rookie
Gen Z are 10% of the comp. The rest are 90% Millennial, no matter what generation you are from you should have respect for your opponents because it can come back to bite you, and that was very cringeworthy, the senior blokes should say you can't do that. Say what you want on the field but as soon as it's made public it's a different ball game.
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
I fully understand that ‘winners are grinners,’ but that’s just too much. The boy must’ve been on the raspberry cordial & lemonade. Very hyper.
XI
Roar Guru
You're already framing it in a bad way. You mention "broken homes" but a third of all marriages end in divorce. And again, you're missing the point I made. The private schools self select for students. All things being equal I would not select a private school kid because they're less likely to know how to deal with struggle because they're more likely to come from a richer, whiter and straighter part of the country
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
I know all of that. I'm just saying there's a risk element in place when it comes to recruiting. I don't doubt that kids with a good upbringing and an expensive education are probably more likely to make it than a kid from a broken home, spent time in and out of jail and a history of poor behaviour. Is that guaranteed? No, of course not. But all other things being equal, you're picking the private school kid. No selection is risk free, but drafting is about trying to make your selection as certain as possible. And if clubs don't have the resources, the kid from a broken home is a lot less likely to be drafted.
XI
Roar Guru
There's lies, damned lies and statistics. Private schools can exclude problem kids (if their parents don't pay too much) and encourage high testing and athletic students to come to them through connections. Some private schools even use how many alumni are in pro sports teams to advertise. Any student that has issues becomes part of the public sector again so doesn't get marked as their failure.
Gary
Roar Rookie
All the public bars have tap beers that are lower than normal strength. The members bar, and corp boxes, have packaged beer of regular strenngth.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
Oh OK then, let's just throw percentages out the window. Occasionally you find good players that didn't make their state under 18's team too, so let's just recruit exclusively from those players!