GWS Giants recruit Jesse Hogan excited for new AFL chapter after contemplating retirement during tumultuous stint at Fremantle
Jesse Hogan couldn’t go to the supermarket without people watching him. Or grab a drink without them filming him. He knew it was time to get out.
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Jesse Hogan was spotted within his first fortnight after relocating to Sydney, back in December.
The Greater Western Sydney recruit, who had started training early with the club’s first-to-fourth-year footballers, was shopping at an IGA supermarket when an employee noticed him.
“A Freo fan in Sydney. I didn’t think they existed,” Hogan told The Daily Telegraph with a grin, as he overlooked his new training ground.
“He knew it was me — he picked it up pretty quick. It’s not the most exciting story, but it took me by surprise.”
That run-of-the-mill encounter is the only time Hogan’s been recognised in his new city, where he hopes to reignite a once-thriving AFL career that’s stalled amid injuries and off-field controversies.
It’s the polar opposite of the fishbowl existence that got the better of him in Perth while he played for Fremantle, after kicking 152 goals in 71 games for Melbourne.
At the height of his troubles, Hogan even contemplated retirement.
People would stare into his shopping basket and question why he was buying certain things, but it was when he was out socially with friends that there were greater problems.
Videos began circulating widely of Hogan being drunk, including some as many as five years old.
On other occasions, he’d be having a quiet beer with mates and people would start filming him on their phones, eager to capture a “gotcha” moment.
“I did it to myself and got a bit of a bad rep, so once I was out, people would be like, ‘Jesse’s out doing something stupid’ and I’d be like, ‘I’m just having a few beers with my mates’,” Hogan said.
“It was annoying and grinds away at you. You stop enjoying going to little social things with your friends, because, especially after a few beers, people get a little bit more obnoxious and it’s like, ‘Here we go’.
“I could’ve handled it a lot better and put a lot more things in place, but it was pretty taxing.”
There was also last year’s COVID-19 breach — he invited a woman into his home when he was supposed to be self-isolating — a freak gym accident that left him with facial injuries, and a hospitalisation when his car ended up on its side.
The incidents kept piling up, some of his own doing and others simply misfortune.
Little of what eventuated was how Hogan envisioned his homecoming being like after requesting a trade from the Demons to the Dockers at the end of 2018.
That was the year after his father, Tony, died and Hogan was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Hogan understandably wanted to be closer to his West Australian-based family and said the move was “100 per cent” his call. He even accepted less money to make it happen.
“I just felt like my life was going around a little bit in circles at Melbourne, but I went back to Perth and it was 10 times worse,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I regret that decision and I’ll forever be grateful to Freo for giving me the opportunity. The stars didn’t align and it’s disappointing I couldn’t deliver on my end.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it just didn’t work out.”
Hogan’s Fremantle stint never really got going, including him not being selected for Round 1 in 2019, for what Dockers football boss Peter Bell described as “poor decisions around alcohol consumption”.
There was even confusion around that statement, after Bell was quoted several times referring to Hogan’s “clinical anxiety”, which they later corrected as being an anxiety disorder.
Hogan reinjured the navicular in his right foot in Round 14 that year, playing against the Demons, and didn’t play again for the season, then took indefinite leave the following January to focus on his mental health.
“It’s something I’ve dealt with for quite a long time, even before I had public issues that people wouldn’t have known about,” Hogan said.
“But when you’re playing footy and you have tragedies and traumatic experiences that the public sees, then it gets light on it.
“It’s something I always have in the back of my mind and have to invest time into, but I’m not the only one. There are so many footballers and athletes and people in general who go through this.
“The stigma around it has gotten way better for young people in general. As a footballer, probably 15 years ago you were weak if you felt these kinds of emotions and didn’t just get on with it.”
Once it became obvious that Hogan’s Fremantle tenure was over — only two seasons into a three-year deal — the NSW and Queensland clubs appealed to him most for obvious reasons.
There were Melbourne teams interested, including reigning premier Richmond, but the northern markets offered anonymity and probably a greater opportunity.
He quickly developed a rapport with Giants coach Leon Cameron, then had some positive conversations with Jason McCartney and Perth-raised club captain Stephen Coniglio.
More GWS players contacted him as negotiations advanced, with the Giants eager to find a way to plug a Jeremy Cameron-sized hole in attack.
Hogan agreed to a modest one-season deal and the Giants exchanged pick 54 for him, two years after he and selection 65 netted Melbourne picks six and 23.
Still only 26, he remains confident he can again be a No.1 forward — although he sidestepped the Cameron comparisons — once he overcomes a quad injury that’s delayed the start of his GWS career.
Hogan will, barring any setback, play at some level next weekend.
Most importantly, he had an otherwise strong pre-season and has regained his passion for football, after revealing the events of recent years “ate away at my love for the game and love for where I was at in life”.
“I was slowly just becoming someone I wasn’t — I’d look in the mirror and think, ‘This isn’t really me’,” he said.
“It just happened over time and slowly I lost passion for it and disconnected further from that 18-year-old who just loved football.
“It slowly detached, which was really hard and disappointing, because I didn’t really know what to do to get that passion back, because you can’t just click your fingers and enjoy it again.
“Footy’s a grind, but that’s a good thing — you’ve got to love the grind, and you’ve got to love the pre-season and working hard. Deep down, I do. My first four, five years I loved everything about it.”
Hogan is content for now living in a granny flat at the back of teammate Shane Mumford’s home as he settles into Harbour City life.
He’s close to the beach, which allows him to regularly indulge his surfing passion and escape football for hours at a time.
Hogan snuck back to Perth during the club’s AFLPA-mandated four-day break — after Sydney’s Christmas COVID outbreak ruined his plans — but he’s fully focused on his fresh football start.
There’s a genuine excitement about the prospect of playing alongside Josh Kelly, Lachie Whitfield, Coniglio, Nick Haynes and co. and what he can still personally achieve.
“It feels good and refreshing to be at a new club and to have another opportunity to get back to where I want to be as a footballer,” Hogan said.
“I have to keep putting little pieces of the puzzle together and obviously get my quad right, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting out there and it’s a bloody exciting team.
“Everyone’s talking about how we lost a few key players, but I don’t think I’ve had a midfield anywhere near this talented. It’s scary.”
Originally published as GWS Giants recruit Jesse Hogan excited for new AFL chapter after contemplating retirement during tumultuous stint at Fremantle
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