After leaving the Magpies, the cunning small forward joins a group of legendary names.
Jack Ginnivan, a new recruit to Hawthorn, left Collingwood a few weeks after reaching the pinnacle of the premiership with the Magpies. He now becomes part of a select group of players who switched teams during the off-season subsequent to their AFL debut.

Just eighteen days had passed since Collingwood’s thrilling four-point victory over the Lions, in which the cunning small forward had racked up seven disposals, four marks, and three inside 50s. Ginnivan’s surprise move to Waverley would come after that.

Although the 20-year-old’s decision to leave the Magpies may have been influenced by Collingwood’s trade deadline acquisition of Fremantle sharpshooter Lachie Schultz, he is expected to achieve great things in the brown and gold as he begins his next chapter with the team he grew up admiring.

Ginnivan’s departure from the premiers made him the first player to leave a team that had won a grand final in four years; the last AFL player to do so was Brandon Ellis, an ex-Tiger who is now a Sun.

Ellis signed a free agent contract with Gold Coast after winning his second flag with Richmond. He left Punt Road after eight fruitful years to start over at Carrara.

Ellis made his move a year after fellow Eagle and champion Scott Lycett, who also joined Port Adelaide as a free agent, left West Coast’s premiership team.

In addition, three players would depart their respective teams shortly after winning a premiership medal: Lance Franklin (Hawthorn to Sydney, 2013), Matthew Suckling (Hawthorn to the Western Bulldogs, 2015), and Joel Hamling (the Western Bulldogs to Fremantle, 2016).

Since the turn of the century, a total of 10 players have now moved clubs after a successful season, with Des Headland departing Brisbane at the end of 2002 for Fremantle.

Port Adelaide premiership pair Josh Carr and Jarrad Schofield would both depart the Power following the club’s maiden AFL premiership in 2004 with moves to Fremantle, while Geelong ruckman Steven King left the Cats following their drought-breaking grand final win in 2007.

According to AFL history and statistics consultant Col Hutchinson, AFL greats Ron Barassi (Melbourne 1964), Norm Smith (Melbourne 1948) and Alex Jesaulenko (Carlton 1979) would also depart premiership-winning teams.

Barassi would go on to win two premierships with Carlton as their coach following his departure from Melbourne, with others that have left premiership sides often not too successful afterwards.

1999 North Melbourne premiership figure Cameron Mooney is the only player since the 1920s to win a premiership as a player immediately after moving on from a grand final-winning team.

Following his switch to Kardinia Park ahead of the 2000 season, Mooney would play a role in Geelong’s 2007 and 2009 premierships to end his career as a three-time premiership player.

Mooney is the only player since Bomber-turned-Cat Tom Fitzmaurice in 1924 who has gone on to find success elsewhere since after leaving a premiership side that same off-season. Fitzmaurice would claim a third straight flag in his first year with Geelong after winning back-to-back premierships with Essendon prior to departing.

The trend doesn’t spell well for Ginnivan, despite the exciting path Hawthorn is expected to follow under senior coach Sam Mitchell over the coming years.

Ellis could also look to snap the dry spell, with his own premiership mentor Damien Hardwick heading to Queensland to help lead the Suns to their first finals appearance.