Australian rules football legend Paul Roos believes Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell “would be absolutely furious” at the behaviour of Hawks forward Jack Ginnivan over the past week.

Ginnivan has found himself in hot water again after Sydney playmaker Brodie Grundy made a cheeky Instagram comment saying: “see you in 14 days”. Ginnivan’s Hawks will face Grundy’s Swans in the preliminary final if they beat Port Adelaide in this week’s semi-final.

Hawthorn have so far made it clear they see nothing wrong with Ginnivan’s social media interactions, simply dismissing it as a joke between two former teammates, but Roos is not convinced the club is unanimous in its approach to the controversial striker.

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

“It’s their first final and they’re a really good football club. Get a grip, Jack. It’s a team sport, it’s not about Jack Ginnivan.

“It’s a football club that everyone loves to watch, they’re tough and they’ve got a great system. Don’t ruin that for your team-mates. It’s on the board at Port every time the players come on this week. Does it make a difference? I don’t know, maybe, maybe not, but it’s just unnecessary. It just smacks of ‘me, me, me, me’ and not ‘team, team, team, team, team.’

“I would definitely bring that up. He would be in my office the next morning, no matter what time training starts.”

Roos said the danger with comments like Ginnivan’s is that they move away from the team ethos that underpins the culture of Australian rules football.

“I’ve seen the way the American media has gone, and I’ve seen the way the athletes have gone. The only thing that resembles a team in America now is that everyone wears the same jersey and that’s it. Everything else is up to the individual,” he said.

“One of the best things about Australian rules football is that it’s about the team.”

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

Mitchell and the club refused to have dinner with friends after Ginnivan completed 15 passes and scored a goal against the Bulldogs.

Ginnivan was also reprimanded by his former coach Craig McRae after participating in racing the night before Collingwood’s grand final win last year. He was traded to Hawthorn shortly afterwards during the trade period.