#23 Jesse Hogan (traded in, 2020)

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Jesse Hogan's “amazing story” and rise to Coleman Medal favourite

Phil Davis on Jesse Hogan's rise in becoming a Coleman Medal lock.
www.sen.com.au www.sen.com.au

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Davis, who has spent his whole career defending forwards, understands what makes a good inside 50, and he thinks Hogan certainly possesses those abilities and qualities.

“He spends an enormous amount of time on his game, there’s a lot of craft and a lot of touch, he’s really tidied up his set shot routine, and now he’s probably the most reliable in the comp at the moment,” he said. “I know we lost Tom Hawkins last week, but Jesse’s craft is just as good as Tom's, and his footwork is amazing, everyone wonders how he gets all these marks in the forward line, his craft, his sharp feet, and his bodywork are second to none at the moment. I think he’s the best contested mark in the game, and he’s just found a way and he’s rebuilt his body and his mind.”

Davis thinks Hogan's move away from Victoria and Western Australia helped him get his life and then footy back on track. “I think throughout those tough times being on the front page of the Herald Sun and the back page of the Herald Sun, and the front page of the West Australian isn’t good for anyone, and coming over to Sydney having that space and getting some balance in his life again (has helped),” he said.

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Now tied up with Jeremy Cameron's Coleman Medal winning year for most goals in a home and away season for the Giants with 67. Has four or five games left to kick 9 more to equal Cameron's most goals in a year (including finals) at 76 goals.
 
www.afl.com.au

Hogan caps career-best season with maiden Coleman Medal

Greater Western Sydney forward Jesse Hogan wins the Coleman Medal for the first time
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au

JESSE Hogan has broken a three-year Carlton stranglehold, winning the Coleman Medal for the first time and becoming one of the most accurate winners of the award in the past two decades.

With reigning back-to-back winner Charlie Curnow ruled out of Carlton's clash against St Kilda due to an ankle injury, Hogan already had the goalkicking award wrapped up before Sunday's games.

And the Greater Western Sydney spearhead put the icing on the cake with a further two goals against the Western Bulldogs to take his season tally to 69, finishing ahead of a rampaging Jeremy Cameron (58), who kicked nine against West Coast on Saturday. Curnow was third with 57 goals despite missing the final two games of the season, followed by Gold Coast's Ben King on 55.

Hogan is only the second player from the Giants to top the goalkicking leaderboard - after Cameron in 2019 - and does so as one of the most accurate winners in the award's history.

The 29-year-old finished the home and away season with a goalkicking accuracy of 65.7 per cent, third behind Matthew Lloyd (71.9 per cent in 2003) and Fraser Gehrig (70.3 per cent in 2004) as the most accurate Coleman winners since 2002, when shots on goal started to be measured. When measured by just goals and behinds, Hogan is sixth most accurate Coleman winner in the past 50 years.

He kicked goals in every game he played this season, including season-best hauls of six against North Melbourne and Fremantle. He also had two bags of five and kicked four goals on five occasions in a year that has him in pole position for a first All-Australian blazer.

2024 Coleman Medal top 10​

1. Jesse Hogan - 69
2. Jeremy Cameron - 58
3. Charlie Curnow - 57
4. Ben King - 55
5. Jake Waterman - 53
6. Joe Daniher - 50
=7. Nick Larkey - 46
=7. Harry McKay - 46
9. Josh Treacy - 45
=10. Kyle Langford - 43
=10. Jamarra Ugle-Hagan - 43
 
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Jesse Hogan isn’t trying to belittle the Coleman Medal when he calls it a “cool little accolade”. It’s just that his career-best return of 69.25 goals for the GWS Giants this year had nothing to do with the actual target he was trying to hit.

The real target was 23. As in, play in all 23 games for the Giants. Which doesn’t sound all that impressive on paper, but for a bloke who was flat out getting to double-digits not too long ago, it’s a feat worth recognising. And is probably the whole reason why he finished the home-and-away campaign as the AFL’s top goalkicker.

Hogan has conquered his body. That much was clear last year, as he delivered 49 goals to help propel the Giants to the preliminary final – but it’s especially clear now that he has upped his durability, productivity and accuracy even further as they sit on the edge of another September full of tantalising possibilities.

“There’s bigger fish to fry, but a cool little accolade I guess,” he said on Monday, the morning after he was confirmed as the Coleman’s latest recipient. “It’s not something I really planned for. I mean, just playing 23 games this year was a big goal of mine. I keep harping on about it, but just the ability to be able to train and be out there ... the more weeks you train as a key forward, your touch gets a little bit better, you get a little more confidence in yourself."

“Adam [Kingsley] put a lot of faith in me, I’m playing close to 90, 95 per cent game time, which is the best key forwards do. They’re out there for longer and competing for longer.”

Prompted to reflect on his own journey to winning the Coleman Medal – his early promise at Melbourne, his ongoing battle with injuries, the loss of his father to cancer and then his own testicular cancer diagnosis, the personal demons he wrestled with at Fremantle, and now his late-career renaissance in Sydney’s west – Hogan asked to be asked again in six weeks’ time, once the Giants’ finals campaign was out of the way, and he’s given himself permission to look back.

All he would say on that was that he was delighted his mother, Julie, was happy. “She rides the emotions harder than anyone. She comes over as much as she can, and to see her smiling and happy, it probably brings me more joy than any of the joy I actually get from playing footy,” Hogan said. “She’ll fly over and come to all the finals, she’ll be absolutely buzzing – same with my brother and my two sisters, they’re the most important people in my life, and they’ve had to go through a fair bit with me. It hasn’t always been easy. I’ve definitely played for them.”

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#23 Jesse Hogan (traded in, 2020)

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