Ghost reach, as in reaching further than the model, which has nothing to with added reach by animation because this reach gets added to the model.
Who cares about the model? Weapons are balanced about their listed reach stat, not how long they "look". When I'm fighting someone with an Elite Scimitar, I'm not counting pixels on my screen to decide if I am within their range or not, I'm remembering that it says 1m on the website and comparing that to the reach listed on the website for my weapon.
If the appearance of the model affected balance, then the English Bill is due for a nerf, because that thing
looks like it would do a lot of damage. Instead, it's one of the most gimped non-peasant weapons in the game.