Jesse Hogan has a great opportunity in front of him to simply “let his footy do the talking”, according to Leon Cameron.
The talented 25-year-old finds himself at his third AFL club after he was traded to GWS by Fremantle in the trade period.
The former Melbourne forward has struggled over the last two years due to an ongoing foot issue while taking time out of the game to prioritise his mental health.
Having spent time in footy-mad cities with the Demons and Dockers, Hogan now gets the chance to go about his business somewhat under the radar in western Sydney and Giants coach Cameron believes that could be beneficial for him.
“Jesse’s got this opportunity to let his footy do the talking,” Cameron said on SEN Breakfast.
“For whatever reason it didn’t seem to gel or click when he went back to his home town of Perth to play for Fremantle.
“He played some good footy at times but had some really challenging times with the injury in his foot and some mental health concerns.
“So we feel as though coming to our footy club, a different environment and being in Sydney, the spotlight might not be as heavy as some other states.
“That might be advantageous for him in terms of his mental health. He can get to work and get down to playing some really good footy.
“He’s got a huge work rate and an appetite to train. We’ve only seen him for five or six days, so he likes to really work hard and train and we feel as though that’s a great step in the right direction.”
Hogan has spent almost his entire AFL career playing as a key forward but was tried in defence at times by the Dockers.
So where will he be deployed by the Giants?
“In terms of his position, we expect him to probably to take up that forward role throughout the January-February period,” Cameron added.
“But we’re actually going to find out as we go along, we’re not set. There’s positions up for grabs.
“The one thing I’m looking forward to over pre-season is who wants to grab them.
“When you come off a disappointing year like we’ve had, positions are not set. When you roll into the next year, you’ve probably got 18 positions and there might be four up for grabs.
“Well who knows, there might be 12 or 14 positions set and 10 or 12 up for grabs.
“What we are looking forward to from a coaches’ point of view is who wants to grab them and Jesse sits in that boat as well.
“He’s looking forward to that challenge. In the early little signs that we’ve seen, I can clearly see he’s got an appetite to play some real good footy and let his footy do the talking.”
Hogan has tallied 90 games and booted 170 goals over six seasons, returning a career-best 47 with the Dees in 2018.
Image courtesy of GWS