Hogan’s six goals boot Giants closer to double chance and a Sydney final

The Giants are striving for a top-two finish and a Sydney home final after a record-equalling seventh successive victory inspired by a six-goal performance from Jesse Hogan.

GWS beat Fremantle by nine points at the Sydney Showgrounds on Saturday to leave the Dockers’ finals chances in jeopardy.

Jesse Hogan celebrates a goal for the Giants.Credit: via Getty Images

It was fitting that Hogan kicked the goal that sealed victory against his most recent former club. He placed his grasp ever more firmly on the Coleman Medal as the league’s leading goalkicker with his six goals taking him to 67, 10 ahead of Carlton’s injured Charlie Curnow on 57.

Hogan has equalled the most number of goals kicked by a Giant, with Jeremy Cameron also booting 67 in 2019 to win the Coleman medal. It’s a remarkable turnaround for a player who had injury and personal issues during his two seasons in Perth before being given away by the Dockers.

“I’m really proud of the work that he puts in,” said coach Adam Kingsley, who described Hogan as selfless. “That probably goes understated, just how hard he works at his game, whether it’s physically or mentally. He’s a fantastic preparer, and we’ll support him as best as we can, as a coaching group and as a playing group.

Hogan takes a mark.Credit: via Getty Images

“He’s given away plenty of goals this year to people in better positions or created a contest to create goals for his smaller teammates. So it’s great to see him get the rewards.”

The Giants must finish second to join their top-placed rivals the Swans in hosting a final during the first week of the playing-offs.

“We’d like to play in front of our home crowd. We had a really good, strong crowd today of over 10,000, well above AFL expectations, and they were loud in critical moments, which certainly helped us,” Kingsley said.

“So we’d love to play in front of them finals time, but we’ve got a job to do next week, and if we can do that, then we’ll get that opportunity.”

Kingsley agreed the Giants had been playing finals-like matches for weeks, having overcome then second-placed Brisbane in their previous game, before meeting sixth-placed Fremantle on Saturday and finishing the regular season with the seventh-placed Western Bulldogs in Ballarat next Sunday.

“I think we’ve had a great dress rehearsal for the finals with the teams that we’ve played over the last five weeks,” Kingsley said. “I’m really comfortable with that. But again, getting there is one thing, the season starts again now and we’ve got to make sure that we’re playing our best.”

Three pieces of magic allowed the Giants to regain the lead during the third quarter, with an under-pressure dribble from Toby Greene allowing Hogan to pop through his third goal from the square, a Darcy Jones showpiece that came during an active third quarter, and a roving banana from one of the Giant’s best players, Brett Daniels.

Gathering a hot handball from Tom Green, Jones dodged an opponent then let go with a right-foot banana kick which curled through the goal, putting the Giants back in front.

And Daniels made something out of nothing, spinning out of a pack for his right-foot checkside goal.

Green was instrumental in the Giants’ third-quarter comeback after a quiet start, and finished the game with a massive 40 possessions including 13 clearances. Veteran Stephen Coniglio had a big second half. Coniglio was busy in his first game since round 18 after recovering from a shoulder injury.

It was an exceptional performance from Fremantle’s Andrew Brayshaw which kept the visitors in the game, with 41 possessions.

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