AFL legend Paul Roos believes Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell would be “absolutely fuming” over the conduct of Hawks forward Jack Ginnivan over the last week. 

Ginnivan has found himself in hot water once again after a cheeky comment on Sydney ruckman Brodie Grundy’s Instagram where he said, “see u in 14 days”. Ginnivan’s Hawks will take on Grundy’s Swans in a preliminary final if they beat Port Adelaide in this week’s semifinal.

Hawthorn has so far indicated that it has no problem with Ginnivan’s social media interaction, simply brushing it off as a joke between two former teammates, but Roos isn’t convinced by the club’s united front on the controversial forward.

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“Sam Mitchell would be fuming, absolutely fuming,” he told the ABC AFL Daily podcast.

“This is their first final and they’re a really good footy club. Pull your head in, Jack. This is a team sport, this is not about Jack Ginnivan. 

“This is a footy club that everyone loves watching play and they’re tough and they’ve got a great system. Don’t spoil it for your teammates. That is up on the board at Port every time the players walk in this week. Does it make a difference? I don’t know, maybe, maybe not, but it’s just unnecessary. It just smacks of ‘I, I, I, I’ not ‘team, team, team, team’. 

“I would raise it, absolutely. He would’ve been in my office the next morning whatever time training started.”

Roos said the danger with comments such as Ginnivan’s is that it gets away from the team ethos which is central to the culture of Australian rules football.

“I’ve seen the way American media has gone and I’ve seen the way athletes have gone, the only thing that resembles a team in America now is they all wear the same jerseys, that’s it, everything else is about the individual,” he said.

“One of the great things about Australian football is it is about the team.” 

Ginnivan has not been short of headlines in his 64-game AFL career. The 21-year-old attracted some controversy last week when he was spotted out at a pub the night before Hawthorn’s elimination final against the Western Bulldogs.

The dinner date with his friends was ticked off by Mitchell and the club after Ginnivan registered 15 disposals and a goal against the Bulldogs. 

Ginnivan was also rebuked by his former head coach Craig McRae after attending the races the night before Collingwood’s grand final win last year. He was traded to Hawthorn shortly afterwards during the trade period.