Hawthorn skipper James Sicily lifts lid on Jack Ginnivan's admission before Ken Hinkley incident

Hawthorn skipper James Sicily has revealed that controversial forward Hawthorn regretted his "cheeky" social media stunt that sparked a fiery post-match exchange with Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley.

Following Port Adelaide's three-point semi final win over Hawthorn on Friday night, Hinkley deviated from his side to taunt Ginnivan.

Sicily later intervened, showing support for his younger teammate.

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The situation emanated after Ginnivan took to Instagram to comment on a post by former Collingwood teammate Brodie Grundy following Sydney's qualifying final win last week.

Now at the Swans, Grundy posted a series of selfies with teammates post-match to which Ginnivan replied: "See u in 14 days".

Ginnivan's Hawks would have met Grundy's Swans in a preliminary final if they had progressed past Port Adelaide on Friday night.

Ginnivan's comment was taken as disregard for the challenge Port Adelaide presented and was used as motivation for the Power.

After the match, Hinkley reportedly shouted at Ginnivan, "You won't be flying to Sydney, Jack".

Speaking to media on Saturday, Sicily stated that Ginnivan confessed to him that he regretted hitting send.

"Jack openly admitted during the week to the leaders that he really wished he didn't do it," he said.

"It's all part of the learning. It was cheeky.

"I don't think the game was lost or won on motivation because of it. It wasn't necessarily a direct attack at Ken, at Port Adelaide."

However, Hinkley disagreed, saying during his post-match press conference that the comment pushed his side "a fair bit".

"That's probably why it got to the point it did," he said in regards to his words with Ginnivan and Sicily.

"We as a footy club found it a little bit disrespectful and that's why it gets to where it gets."

Hinkley has since been issued a please explain by the AFL for the incident, which was confirmed by Power chief executive officer Matthew Richardson on Saturday.

'We've had a conversation with the AFL today, they've just asked for some extra details," he told media.

"They're really no different to the details Ken provided last night in the press conference."