Melbourne forward Jesse Hogan’s immediate playing future in doubt amid health concerns
MELBOURNE’S club doctor says star forward Jesse Hogan is “very lucky” after an early detection of testicular cancer. The star forward will have surgery today.
Melbourne
Don't miss out on the headlines from Melbourne. Followed categories will be added to My News.
JESSE Hogan will undergo surgery today after being diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Melbourne held a press conference this morning to address the serious health issue for their star young forward.
LIVE: ALL TUESDAY’S AFL NEWS
Hogan’s illness comes just weeks after his father died after a long battle with cancer.
Demons doctor Zeeshan Arain said Hogan was “very lucky” in that the cancer had been detected extremely early.
The doctor said given the positive prognosis Hogan could even return to football in “four to eight weeks”.
“He won’t need any chemotherapy so that’s really good news for him,” Dr Arain said.
“Purely from a physical point of view of the operation and the recovery we expect somewhere between 4-8 weeks but obviously we’ll have to look back at how he’s had a disrupted year as well conditioning point of view and psychological state but I expect him to be back anywhere between 4-8 weeks.
“He was very lucky (to detect so early) anytime anyone gets a diagnosis of cancer people feel very unlucky to hear that but when they hear it’s early stage the emotion flips around.
“It was really good that Jesse was able to come to us and we were able to follow it through.
“This is the type of cancer that usually has an excellent prognosis even if it isn’t early stage ... as a male if you’re going to get a cancer this is the one to get.”
Melbourne football manager Josh Mahoney the Demons would concentrate on supporting their young gun.
“From the initial diagnosis on Thursday, it took a little while taking the information in.
“There was some speculation about him being in the team and not in the team, his initial response was that a wanted to play on the weekend after talking to a few more different people he decided not to play.
“In terms of his spirits he was at our VFL game on Sunday supporting our guys and he is very positive about the outlook.
“It’s been a really tough year for Jesse all the things that he’s gone through with the passing of his father and then have news like this has been really difficult for Jesse and what we’re seeing is we’re seeing a young 22 year old mature before our eyes.
“The way he was able to handle the death of his father, return to the club and the way he handled himself that week and to play the way he did was a tremendous effort and all we can do as a club at the moment is offer support and help him and his family through this.
“We’re confident from what we’ve seen already that he’s going to bounce back out of this, he’s a very resilient character and with the support of the club he is going to get back and playing footy this year.”
Hogan missed last week’s memorable win against Adelaide after being left out of the team and the reason was listed as “illness”.
Repeated calls to Demons officials last night were not returned.
Melbourne said surgery would remove the tumour after an ultrasound last week identified the cancer.
A CT scan revealed the cancer had not spread to any other part of the body — and the club expects him to make a full recovery.
“The club’s collective heart is with Jesse Hogan. This is clearly a very difficult time for Jesse and his health and wellbeing is the number one priority for us,” Mahoney said.
“We informed the players of this on Friday and respected Jesse’s wishes to keep this information private up until this point.
“Jesse will obviously miss a period of football due to this surgery but we expect him to make a full recovery and return to AFL in the short-term future.”
Demons great Garry Lyon tried to take a positive approach to the news after it broke this morning.
“It is shocking but right now you just got to take a positive slant on this. A young kid, he’s healthy, fit, he’s up and about,” Lyon said on SEN.
“Football becomes a secondary importance. If you’re a footy head straight away your mind goes ‘Oh no’, but it is absolutely well down the path and from all of the Melbourne and I’m sure the broader footy community is just saying get yourself right, get yourself up and going and come back bigger and better than ever.”
The five-year survival rate for men diagnosed with testicular cancer is close to 98 per cent, according to the Cancer Council Australia.
Testicular cancer is the second most common cancer for men aged 18-39.
Hogan has kicked 94 goals in 45 matches and in October last year signed a two-year contract extension.
- with Gilbert Gardiner
AFL: WE’LL PLAY WHATEVER ROLE WE CAN
AFL chief Gillon McLachlan says the AFL will offer Jesse Hogan and Melbourne its full support and will help in any way it can.
McLachlan said the football community is “incredible”.
“I just wanted to say that on behalf of the industry that our care and our concern and our thoughts are with Jesse Hogan,” he said.
“We’ll play whatever role we can. We know he’s going to have the best care and my understanding is that the diagnosis is positive in the context of bad news.”
He also said that such news puts the game of Australian Rules “absolutely” in perspective.
“Health and family are pretty much everything, and I think that it gives a lot of things a lot of context this morning,” the chief executive said.
“We’ve got an incredible community, right across our industry, from the community (level) to elite. I know that he’s going to get incredible support and he’ll have all the love and the care that he needs to recover quickly.”
While he said he wasn’t sure “there’s much for us to do here (at the AFL)”, McLachlan affirmed that the league will remain on call to Hogan and the Demons to offer any support required.
“It’s a great football club, Melbourne, and it’s got great leadership and I know that he’s going to get all of the support from that club that he needs,” he said.
- Lauren Wood
JESSE THE LATEST IN CANCER FIGHT
SADLY he’s now best known for all the wrong reasons, but disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong is a walking poster boy for testicular cancer survivors.
Armstrong was 25 when diagnosed in 1996 with a testicular cancer that had already spread to his brain, lungs and abdomen, leading to a grim prognosis from doctors. That he survived and then founded Livestrong Foundation brought him worldwide acknowledgment, and still does to many despite him later becoming a serial drug cheat.
Closer to home Carlton defender Sam Rowe was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2012 but returned to the field the next year after beating the disease.
Australian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade was just 16 when diagnosed with the same cancer, but made a complete recovery after two rounds of chemotherapy.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Wade told SEN radio that his biggest battle was overcoming the mental challenges.
“It probably took three or four months to get out the other side and then build your body back up. The bad thing about chemotherapy ... it basically shuts down your whole body so it takes an extended period of time to build yourself back up and then obviously to get back to where he wants to get to is going to be a fair fight,” Wade said.
Wade was diagnosed at 16 and underwent surgery days later.
“I think it will be a longer period of time for him for sure, he’s got people in the right places to get him back but I think it’s more of a mental thing — well it was for me more than anything to really get committed to go back out and have a crack.
“It really rocks you, I suppose it makes you question things about what you’re doing and life itself so I think more mentally rather than physically.
“If he wants to do it physically he’ll do it quite easily but mentally is probably the hardest thing to get through.”
Long-time Socceroos captain Craig Moore underwent surgery for testicular cancer in November, 2008, and just six weeks later was given the all clear to resume playing.
Another soccer star in Jonas Gutierrez of Newcastle United fame also overcame the disease, as did dual Giro d’italia cycling winner Ivan Basso.
While the cancer is the second most common in men aged between 18-39, the five-year survival rate for the disease is 97 per cent.
- Jon Anderson
‘Embarrassing’: AFL legend torches club
Garry Lyon has turned a flamethrower on an AFL club over a “dog’s breakfast” situation that has blown up in its face.
‘Never’: Why ANB backflipped on SA homecoming pledge
Six months after declaring he would “never” return to South Australia, Alex Neal-Bullen was unveiled as a Crows player. He reveals what changed to prompt his SA homecoming.