Jack Ginnivan opens up about his departure from Collingwood to join Hawthorn

• In short: Jack Ginnivan said he left Collingwood after coming under fire for attending the races the night before the grand final.
• Collingwood went on to win the premiership, but Ginnivan decided to join Hawthorn after supporting them as a kid.
• What’s next? Collingwood and Hawthorn meet for the first time this season in Adelaide on Sunday.

• Hawthorn forward Jack Ginnivan has revealed he knew it was time to leave Collingwood after a post-season meeting with Magpies coach Craig McRae.

• Weeks after playing in Collingwood’s premiership win last September, the Anzac Day medallist was offered a four-year deal to play for the Hawks — the club he grew up supporting.

  After a turbulent 12 months that included a two-game ban for admitting to illicit drug use, Ginnivan landed himself in trouble for attending a horse racing event on grand final eve.

  “Read the room, Jack,” McRae said in his post-grand final press conference when asked about Ginnivan’s night at Moonee Valley Racecourse.

  Ginnivan, who owns multiple race horses but did not have any running on the night in question, was frustrated by how the story blew up.

• “Me and my mate went there at 6:30[pm] and got home at 9:30[pm]. Like, it wasn’t really that big of a deal,” the 21-year-old told the Tommy Talks podcast.

  “I don’t think it’s a mistake from my behalf, but probably just how people perceived it.

  “It didn’t look great, which would be the only thing I would change.

  “Nothing really came of it until ‘Fly’s’ (McRae) press conference and my exit meeting, and that was sort of I knew I probably should leave.

  “That was a bit of an eye-opening [moment], that exit meeting.

• “The most disappointing thing was probably just no coach or player reaching out to say, ‘I want you to stay and we really value you,’ and all those things.”

  Despite McRae’s public annoyance, Ginnivan went to Collingwood’s Mad Monday celebrations dressed as a jockey.

  “They’re actually [jockey] Craig Williams’s silks,” Ginnivan said.

  “I got them on the Friday night at the Valley because I was with a few people from the Valley that got us into the box and just looked after us.

• “I didn’t even know that it would blow up, so I thought I might just go as a jockey because I like horses.

• “And then it blew up and then it’s the funniest thing of all time.”