GREATER Western Sydney star Jesse Hogan will undergo surgery next week on his troublesome right foot, after carrying the injury across the second half of the 2025 season.
The 2024 Coleman Medal winner missed the final three games of the home and away season due to the lingering issue, before kicking three goals on return in the elimination final loss to Hawthorn last Saturday.
Hogan had surgery to repair his navicular bone in his first season at Fremantle in 2019, after suffering a recurrence of the stress fracture he suffered the previous year at Melbourne.
This time, the surgeon is planning to remove bone spurs in his foot and will check the navicular bone and the screw, which is believed to have caused some of the issues in 2025. Recent scans indicated that the navicular is fine.
Jesse Hogan looks on during round 21, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos
GWS has carefully managed Hogan since he moved from the Dockers at the end of 2020, resting him on five-day – and even six-day – breaks, as well as reducing his training load regularly.
The All-Australian key forward is expected to return to full fitness by the start of pre-season in late November.
Hogan kicked 46.14 from 16 games in 2025 – only Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron and Jack Gunston averaged more goals per game – to continue his renaissance in orange. The West Australian has now kicked 227 goals from 91 games for the Giants.
Livewire forward Darcy Jones underwent a second knee reconstruction on Thursday after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament just before half-time on Saturday.
The 21-year-old required a knee reconstruction months after arriving in western Sydney as a first-round pick, before he had made his debut for Adam Kingsley’s side.
Jones played all but one game in his third season in the AFL and was included in the 22 under 22 squad.
James Leake, who was selected at pick No. 17 last November, has also undergone finger surgery but has signed a contract extension that locks him in at the Giants until 2028.
