AFL 2024: Jesse Hogan relishing GWS Giants’ forward chemistry

Now a genuine Coleman Medal fancy, Jesse Hogan is growing in confidence with his body and has found a surprise new mentor.

GWS star Jesse Hogan could have launched a surprise run to the Coleman Medal with his 10 goals in the first two games of the season. Picture: Phil Hillyard

GWS star Jesse Hogan says he is enjoying his footy like no time before after an explosive 10-goal fortnight to begin his season.

Hogan said he was thriving without much individual pressure in a Giants team which has armed itself with some of the competition’s most goalkicking threats in a single forward line under Adam Kingsley.

The 29-year-old credited putting extra time into his recovery and preparation with his stellar form, with 27 goals from his last seven games including a 17-mark, nine-goal masterclass against Essendon in round 23 last year.

Increasing cohesiveness with his fellow forwards and confidence in his body have Hogan enjoying “the most fun” he’s had on the field in any level of football.

“The last 18 months have been pretty fun. It’s probably the most fun period I’ve had playing footy,” Hogan said on Monday.

“You get chemistry with your teammates, that takes time … having faith you’ve done the work during the pre-season allows you to go out and just play footy.”

Jesse Hogan says his last 18 months have been ‘the most fun period’ of his football career as he surges clear at the top of the Coleman Medal count. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Hogan said he was working closely with North Melbourne and Geelong premiership forward Cam Mooney, who has added to the Giants’ coaching staff in a part-time role early this year.

Mooney’s main teaching philosophy did not come as a surprise – “he loves aggression” – but Hogan said he also had an important perspective from playing in a similarly high-powered forward line at Geelong, which had six players kick more than 30 goals when it won the 2007 flag.

“He comes in once a fortnight, we just do a bit of contested marking stuff, bodywork stuff, and just the mental side of the game as well … obviously he worked in a very prolific forward line at the Cats, so to take knowledge away from what he knows, it’s been really handy for myself, Aaron (Cadman) and Jake (Riccardi),” Hogan said.

“We’ve got the All-Australian captain (Toby Greene) in the same forward line, so that takes a bit of the heat off the keys (key forwards).

“We’re pretty hard to match up on, we’ve got Toby Bedford and Brent Daniels who are probably two of the nippiest forwards in the comp at the moment.

“We’ve had that 12-month block now of playing together and realising our strengths and weaknesses … just having time playing with the same forwards, you just naturally progress together.”

Hogan (left) is enjoying mentoring and watching the progress of No. 1 pick Aaron Cadman in his second season. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Hogan said he was excited by No. 1 pick Aaron Cadman’s progression after breaking into the senior side to begin the season, as he called for more patience from the wider football world with key position talent.

“(The external pressure) is getting worse and worse each year, and key forward is probably the hardest position on the field to play to be honest,” he said.

“To come in and have the expectation that (Cadman’s) just going to command the forward line is probably a little bit too extreme.

“But that’s just footy … he’s handled it really well, he’s a good kid, and we’re slowly starting to see why he went pick one.”

Despite the Giants’ hot start to the season, Hogan said they would be wary of West Coast in Perth this week after they were one of only three times to drop a game to the Eagles in 2023.

“This time last year we went over there and let ourselves down. We’re not going to touch on what happened last year too much, but it’s in the back of our minds,” he said.

“Adam (Kingsley) has flagged that, that we’re not going to go over there and think it’s just going to happen.”