The story behind why Fremantle took a chance and recruited Jesse Hogan

Fremantle asked the questions, they got the answers and they rolled the dice — this is the story behind how Jesse Hogan became a Docker.

Jesse Hogan warms up before a JLT Series game with Fremantle. Picture: Getty Images.

Fremantle is sitting opposite Jesse Hogan when they ask him directly.

The Dockers are still weighing up whether to recruit the Melbourne forward, but the time has come to cut to the chase.

DOCKERS BOOM RECRUIT HOGAN TO BE SIDELINED FOR ROUND 1

AFL 2019: JESSE HOGAN FLOUTED FREMANTLE’S BOOZE BAN

EXCLUSIVE: AFL UNVEILS SNICKO TECHNOLOGY FOR GOAL REVIEWS

TWO TIGERS RE-SIGN ON EVE OF SEASON OPENER AGAINST BLUES

How serious is the social habit?

Hogan gives them a number out of 10 that’s closer to 10 than zero.

It’s tense, it’s awkward, but there’s honesty from both parties.

We’re prepared to help you, the Dockers say. We’ll get you home, close to your family and give you support. Could that number be zero?

No.

Hogan may have been the biggest fish in last year’s exchange period, but he was also footy’s version of Caveat Emptor — let the buyer beware.

Rewind to last October and Fremantle had done their homework. Whether whispers of private investigators are true or not, the Dockers knew enough to cut this deal with their eyes wide open.

That deal was for a reported three years and $2.7 million after giving up picks six and 23.

So Fremantle rolled the dice. Now, just days out from Round 1, they have a player whose “clinical anxiety can lead to him making poor decisions around alcohol consumption and, therefore, impact his health and wellbeing.”

Jesse Hogan warms up before a JLT Series game with Fremantle. Picture: Getty Images.

Jesse Hogan was traded by Melbourne at the end of last season.

How big a factor was Fremantle’s recruiting history in trading for Hogan?

The list of key position players Fremantle have missed out on down the years is a long one.

Mitch Clark (2011), Travis Cloke (2012), James Frawley (2014), Jarrad Waite (2014), Jay Schulz (2015) and Cale Hooker (2016) have all been pursued to varying degrees by the Dockers.

Here was a player in Hogan who was finally willing to come. A player who, despite his off-field flaws, is a 24-year-old matchwinner who is capable of doing things so many aren’t.

To be blunt, were the Dockers desperate?

And what of Ross Lyon? You can’t win with choir boys, perhaps, but has the coach bitten off more than he can chew?

He has been here before. Go back to Andrew Lovett at St Kilda, the late Colin Sylvia and more recently, Harley Bennell. Lyon has a history with footy’s bad boys.

As for Melbourne, here was their second sliding door moment in as many years after Jack Watts was jettisoned at the end of 2017, even if comparing the two players is unfair.

But no one at the Demons is patting themselves on the back. A player wanted a trade, they traded him and privately, as well as publicly, they wish him well.

Indeed, Hogan will most likely still play very good football for Fremantle this year and his ability and potential are largely unquestioned.

But if Barry from Broadmeadows got all the photos and videos over summer of Hogan in various states, how much more are the Dockers aware of and where does it go from here?

As Basil Zempilas said on Perth radio yesterday: “We haven’t seen pictures of one particular AFL player like that since Ben Cousins was at the height of his problems,” he said.