GREATER Western Sydney concedes Jesse Hogan’s ongoing foot problem is an issue it is struggling to get on top of with the star forward to be sidelined again for Sunday’s home clash in Canberra against North Melbourne.
Hogan will now miss a third game in six weeks after limping off in the 88-point loss to the Western Bulldogs last Thursday with just three disposals and no goals to his name.
“He’s just got inflammation in that foot that just provides some pain. He got a knock early in the Bulldogs game that restricted him pretty severely,” coach Adam Kingsley said.
“A week on, week off was the plan. We felt like he’d recovered really well after the Sydney game, so we rolled the dice a little bit and it didn’t quite go our way.”
The Giants are hopeful Hogan will be back to face Gold Coast next week in another critical encounter with the need to aim for three straight wins over the remainder of the season just to make the finals.
But they are planning for the prospect of the 30-year-old either missing more footy or playing in a restricted fashion moving forward.
“It’s not ideal. But it’s what we’ve got so we have to deal with it as well as we possibly can. If that means that we move past him in the short-term then that’s the way we go.”
“He’s obviously been a very important player to us for a long period of time now. We’re trying to manage it so we can get close to his best every week,” Kingsley said.
Hogan’s absence will be offset by the return of captain Toby Greene for Sunday’s encounter, as the Giants try to bounce back from their heaviest defeat since the 2019 Grand Final and worst performance of the Kingsley era.
Prior to that however, they’d won six games in a row which included victories over Brisbane, Gold Coast, Geelong and Sydney.
Adam Kingsley is seen during Greater Western Sydney’s clash against Gold Coast in round 15, 2025. Picture: Getty Images
“It’s hard to remember that when you’ve had a poor loss. But we’ve been in really good form. We’ve won a bunch of games, we’ve still got to win some games to qualify for finals and we’re very motivated by that,” Kingsley said.
A further source of inspiration will be the retirement of Callan Ward with the Kangaroos clash to be the first since the inaugural captain and Giants games record holder called an end to his illustrious career.
“We want to make him proud. He’s been a wonderful servant of our club and every time our players take the field I ask them to play like Callan Ward so if they do that we’ll be a pretty good team,” Kingsley said.
Callan Ward with his wife Ruby Keddie and their children Ralfie, Romeo and Rex after announcing his retirement to Greater Western Sydney players and staff at Giants HQ on August 4, 2025. Picture: Brett Costello
The Giants defence conceded their highest total in almost two years against the Bulldogs as All-Australian defender Sam Taylor was comprehensively beaten for one of the few times in his career.
Their task on Sunday though has been made far easier with Nick Larkey’s season-ending knee injury and Paul Curtis’ suspension.
“It’s helpful. Larkey’s a star and Curtis has been outstanding so it’s helpful to us but the guys they bring in have been in form in the VFL, one kicked six goals last week (Geordie Payne) and they’ve still got some quality ahead of the ball, (Cam) Zurhaar in particular,” Kingsley said.
