Collingwood small forward Jack Ginnivan has gone too far in searching for free kicks inside forward 50, according to Garry Lyon.
The young Magpie was in the thick of the action early in Sunday’s four-point win over Hawthorn, receiving two free kicks in the first quarter that led directly to goals.
Ginnivan, who was accused of staging earlier in the season, was unlucky not to receive free kicks for high contact in the second half.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae says the club will seek clarification from the AFL regarding the non-frees involving Ginnivan.
Lyon told SEN Breakfast: “My opinion is he’s gone too far, Jack Ginnivan.
“He’s gone too far in his search for a free kick in those circumstances.
“Watching absolutely neutrally and I’m looking at it going, ‘You’re going to pay for that at some stage’ and he did.
“He ducked into one, got ripped around the neck, it should’ve been holding the ball if he wasn’t going to pay it around the neck.
“It was one or the other, and he didn’t pay it in the end, and then he missed out on one he should’ve got.
“This is what happens.”
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Lyon and former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley debated Ginnivan’s on-field approach and how he is being umpired.
Buckley: “I don’t agree that he ducks. I don’t agree that he ducks.”
Lyon: “That is where you and I agree to disagree.”
Buckley: “I agree that he stays low, and he drives his legs through a player.”
Lyon: “He goes lower. He starts low and goes lower.
“In my opinion, he goes lower.”
Buckley: “I can’t disagree with that, and I can’t disagree with the fact that his exit strategy for some of his ground ball inside forward 50 is to be caught high and to get a set shot at goal.
“That tests the rules. I don’t have an issue with that at all. We’ve got players all over the ground, the ruckmen are doing it.
“Sean Darcy’s ruck work early in the game, there was a couple of free kicks that he went at Oscar McInerney, and he put his left arm out and got him on the chops a couple of times. It should’ve been a free kick for a fend, but he was playing the game on the edge.
“I love it when I see players play the game on the edge and sometimes when it’s a physical challenge, we think that as blokes we beat our chests about it, but there’s the rules that you can play to.
“And with guile and smarts, that’s got to be part of the game.”
Buckley said further: “In that last quarter … Blake Hardwick stuck the tackle and there might have been a little bit in it, but the umpire thought the tackle effort and application was fair.
“But Ginnivan got himself to the contest before anyone else and actually got his hands on the ball.
“Once you’ve got the ball in possession, you run the game, you control the game.”
Ginnivan has kicked 21 goals in 10 games so far this year.