Key forward Jesse Hogan has signed a new two-year deal with the GIANTS, keeping him in the orange and charcoal until at least the end of 2024.
With 30 goals from 16 matches in 2022, Hogan has been back to some of the best football of his career after joining the GIANTS ahead of the 2021 season.
At 195cm, the 27-year-old has been a headache for opposition club’s to defend this season, averaging seven marks a game, including 12 last week to go with his four goals in the GIANTS’ win over Essendon.
The new two-year deal is a reward for the talented forward who believes he still has plenty of his best footy ahead of him.
“Yeah, to finally have signed, it’s a good feeling,” Hogan said.
“It’s always nice to sign a contract, and to get a few years just shows the club has a bit of faith in me and shows where our relationship is at, so I’m very excited.
“I’ve touched on it a few times before, but the lifestyle just suits me a little bit better to where I’ve previously been and where I’m at in my career.
“The ability to get down to the beach and disconnect, and to not be such a footy-orientated state has been a really big factor for me on and off the field.
“I’m definitely feeling the most settled I’ve ever felt. It's the most games I’ve played in here and I think the more games you play in, the better you feel out on the field, the better your connection is to the game, the better you can work with your teammates – all of that.
“Being able to link together 15 or 16 games and still finish off the season has been massive for me.
“Also, I’m just getting a little bit older now so I like to think I’ve got a bit of a calmer head on me and can take a deep breath and relax a bit more.”
Off the back of several injury-interrupted years, Hogan has looked settled in his position up forward this season, which he attributes to the work he’s done with the GIANTS’ high performance and medical teams to get his body and training schedule right.
“The body’s feeling really good. I’ve put a lot of time and work into it with the high-performance staff and the coaches to map out a plan that would see me play 15-20 games and so far, so good,” Hogan said.
“Having that plan just gave me a lot of belief that I would be able to get up to this mark that I probably haven’t reached in a while.
“I’ve definitely put more of a focus on it and been much more diligent about it - I can’t be staying out on the field for that extra 20 minutes, I need to invest that time elsewhere. I do a lot of pilates and specific things that strengthen my calves and glutes which has probably been the difference from what I’ve done in past years.”
While the GIANTS won’t be playing finals this season, Hogan is confident about the future of the club, and looks forward to seeing what the group can do in 2023.
“It was only 10 months ago that we were competing in finals, and we’ve got really good character throughout the whole list so there’s no reason we can’t get back to playing finals footy very quickly,” he said.
“Belief goes a long way, and a week is a long time in footy, as we’ve seen, so if we can finish off these last few games strong, I think that’ll go a long way into setting us up for a big year next year.”
The GIANTS take on the Western Bulldogs on Saturday at 1:45pm.
