Collingwood great Nathan Buckley has revealed a comparison his mother made between he and young gun Jack Ginnivan after the latter’s latest impressive showing on the big stage.
Ginnivan booted three goals against Fremantle during Saturday’s semi-final win at the MCG, adding to an incredibly impressive season for the 19-year-old, who was taken with pick No.13 in the 2020 rookie draft.
Buckley, speaking on SEN Breakfast, revealed he had been compared to Ginnivan by none other than his own mother for the way in which he enjoyed the game.
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“I sent my mum and dad with my tickets to go and watch the game on Saturday and mum sent me this text at 9:46pm – ‘Just love Ginnivan, he reminds me of you at the same age, the joy he takes in the game’,” he said.
“My mum has watched a lot of footy and she very rarely makes a comment about footy or players, but I think that’s what you see.
“You see in Ginnivan a player who plays with his heart on his sleeve. I reckon the reason he gets so much attention from media and opposition is because he plays on the edge, but he has to win the ball before he’s in a situation where he might get a high tackle or free kick and he finishes”
Buckley, who was Collingwood’s senior coach at the time of Ginnivan’s arrival, was full of praise for the way he has developed himself physically.
“Last year he came into the club and he was green and he wasn’t fit and he worked and worked and worked,” he recalled.
“You could see that he didn’t have the capacity, but in the VFL there was one particular time just before midway through the year and he had about five or six pressure efforts and he basically coughed up a lung, he came to the bench and this was early in the second quarter and he was gassed.
“But he just found a way to work himself through it and we should never be surprised when we see players pop up.”
Despite not finishing with high possession counts, Ginnivan has now booted 39 goals from 22 matches.
“He doesn’t have to have more than five or six touches to have an impact on the game because he’s a surgeon with his finishing and he plays with such energy,” Buckley said.
“I think we all should celebrate rather than find the negative in it. He keeps performing. He won an Anzac Day medal.”
