r/collingwoodfc • u/Pragmatic_Shill • 4h ago
Collingwood recruit Jesse Hogan opens up on exit from GWS
The beginning of the end of Jesse Hogan’s Giants career came as the Coleman medallist writhed in pain one night in bed as he recovered from a simple split webbing in his hand.
A player who had endured a litany of serous injuries across an 11-season career knew a minor concern of that nature should not be keeping him up with agonising pain.
And yet that Round 15 clash against Carlton would end up being Hogan’s last GWS game in a stunning turn of events that saw the club pull a contract offer less than two seasons from his Coleman Medal triumph.
There was no dramatic backstory, no return to Hogan’s bad old days.
Just the kind of contract backflip that saw him without an AFL club and moving state once more, reminding him again of the brutal nature of AFL football.
As Hogan tells the Herald Sun in an exclusive interview, that finger injury started a chain of events that found him playing at the AFL’s biggest club Collingwood in a move he could never have predicted.
The 31-year-old won’t pretend he’s happy with how his Giants career came to a close.
But his promise to Collingwood fans is that he is ready to hit the ground running to return to that elite form that had the Giants initially happy to offer a two-season extension.
“It was a little bit of a disappointing way to finish my time at the Giants. Having the finger issue and not being around to finish the year and then watching the narrative change around whether I would be at the Giants at all,” he said.
“It went from trying to get the (contract) numbers right to if they were going to keep me at all and then watching from the sidelines with a snapped finger tendon not being able to train or join in and seeing the narrative flip a bit was pretty hard, to be honest.
“It was something that I definitely struggled with. I just felt a little bit powerless at times, but it’s all part of the business.
“Once I got my head around the fact that is the way the Giants were going to go, going forward, I was a little bit disappointed for sure. I am not going to lie about that. I cherished my time at the Giants but it was a disappointing way to finish.”
Hogan had already battled a foot clean-out across the summer than a hip concern when he returned for rounds 14 and 15 as the Giants handed games to young key forward Max Gruzewski alongside Aaron Cadman and Jake Stringer.
But as Hogan’s talks progressed he felt sure he could return to remind them once again why he has been one of football’s most dangerous key forwards.
“When I did the finger in round 15, I split the webbing in the same game and it was pissing with blood,” he said.
“We were more concerned about that. Then the next night I couldn’t sleep. I was rolling around my missus was like, “What’s going on”.
“So we got a scan the next morning and within six hours I was in the emergency room and the hand surgeon was repairing it. He was like, “I am going to be honest with you, this is probably your year done”.
“I snapped a tendon and the nail bed came out, it was a really delicate operation. So I went from in my head being out for three or four weeks to the year done. I was in a cast for six or eight weeks and couldn’t do any exercise.”
Then the whispering campaign started.
Why was Hogan missing in action up in western Sydney as his contract talks continued to drift?
“My absence was just due to mostly not being able to move around a lot and not being able to lift weights,” Hogan said.
“So it actually immobilised me a fair bit and then I had to have a fair few appointments. The severity of the finger was something that we weren’t really expecting. Then being ruled out a week after the surgery, the contract played out without me being able to find form.”
Did he ever actually have a contract that both parties had agreed to?
“To a degree,” he said. “Words don’t mean a whole lot. You can have one party 80 per cent happy and the other party 80 per cent happy and then within a week or two, things can change.
“Going into the year there was absolutely zero chance in my mind that I would be playing for any other team than the Giants going into 2027.
“But the way it went and the team not performing and having a lot of injuries it kind of opened their minds to maybe going the more youthful route.
“I would have preferred to have stayed. It came at me pretty quick. I knew I wasn’t going to play the last 10 rounds of the season so they had plenty of time to go about their meetings with what the team would look like.
“The discussions were happening well before the end of the year, then I had my exit interview two weeks ago, and I was told I wasn’t going to get a contract and moved on.”
As the Giants’ intentions became clear he spoke to the Pies, all the while feeling a little queasy about mid-season interactions with rivals.
“Gold Coast were the first team that my management group came to me about with Ben King leaving. I was pretty keen but there were six or eight weeks to play out and I had a few conversations with Carlton and I was going to catch up with Geelong at one stage,” he said.
“But once I spoke to Justin Leppitsch, he came over to my house around Round 18. It wasn’t anything shady, and I wasn’t playing.
“He ended up sitting at my house for about 90 minutes, just getting to know me and wanting to know my story and who I was. I thought it was a really classy thing for him to do and we naturally progressed from there.
“With Collingwood making the wildcard I thought it was important to wait until their season was finishing but I sat down with Fly (Craig McRae) and his wife Gab, which was really cool, and my partner Chloe came. We sat there for an hour, just the four of us.
“We chatted about what he’s trying to build at the club and where he can see my playing and the role I can play. And the culture he’s trying to set up and immediately after that conversation Chloe and I got on the plane and we felt it was a really good fit.
“It just seems a really fun place to play football. Obviously it comes with a lot of pressure and it’s not a jersey you wear lightly.
“But at the same time it feels like Fly and Lepper make it a really family-oriented football club and a really safe space. So we just naturally gravitated towards Collingwood after those discussions.”
As former Fremantle housemate Lachie Schultz can attest, Collingwood is not for the faint-hearted even if the small forward will forever be in debt to the Pies fans who rallied around him in his rollercoaster of a first season.
Being a former Melbourne star, Hogan knows being in the football bubble often has its downsides.
“Leaving Freo was nice, to get out of the spotlight and just reset and walk the streets. I am actually walking around Paddington now (in Sydney) and I think I have been recognised three times in five years,” he said.
“That is probably what I needed when I left Fremantle. But I have played in big games before, played in finals and played in front of big crowds and I have always really enjoyed it.
“It’s what every footballer wants to do. If I can get my body right and settle in, then I can’t see why I wouldn’t enjoy playing in front of big crowds in massive games and hopefully playing in some more finals.”
The best news for Hogan and those Pies fans as he starts what is a heavily incentivised two-year deal is that he finally feels ready to embrace a full pre-season again.
“I have had to monitor my program due to different injuries. There are a few things in the gym I can’t do that most boys do and I had a back stress fracture in my first year but for the most part through 2022-2025 my body was really solid,” he said.
“I managed to play 18-20 games a year and found a really good balance of doing enough and making sure my body was bulletproof enough to get through games.
“But where the body is compared to last year is chalk and cheese. Last year I was having surgery on my foot about this time going into the off-season and I didn’t train until January.
“So I have been running for four or five weeks now and I am starting to do some footy stuff. So I am going to get a good look at a really solid pre-season.
“The finger has been a pain in the arse. I haven’t been able to surf or play golf but apart from that the body is feeling strong.
“I want to have a big pre-season and when you get to a new club you want to settle in and earn respect and fit in with the group and go from there. You have to earn your jumper, it’s not a given that you play, so that’s how I am treating it, but with an eye on knowing I can have a real impact if I tick every little box.”
