Farewell Jesse Hogan

[At Least I Saw a Flag 5,247]

As my good mate, Omar Khayyám used to say ...

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

 

[Lucifers Hero 39,811]

Good to see Jesse confront and deal with his inner demons:  how-speaking-up-helped-giants-star-clear-his-head  Will always have a soft spot for him. 

Hope he has a good year and builds his confidence.  'Sliding doors' has prevented him playing finals when his team has, so hope he gets that chance with GWS.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,755]

How quickly time passes. I couldn't believe it when I read he was 27 years old.

[whatwhat say what 22,757]

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

How quickly time passes. I couldn't believe it when I read he was 27 years old.

sadly, his likely "best years" were wasted by injury and being at fremantle

crazy to think how much we dominated his final game and still found a way to lose it; jesse's most memorable moment in that clash was being a step ladder for heeney

[Guest]

It's a tough one with Jesse. He is the sliding doors metaphor personified (more so than Jack).

There are certain things that happened with him that literally couldn't be helped: testicular cancer and the death of his father readily come to mind as were some of his injuries. 

That said, if Jesse had been exposed to a classical philosopher (Socrates) when he was considering his options at the end of 2019, he would have known that knowing oneself is the greatest knowledge of all.

There had been whispers that Jess had a lot of skateboarding and BMX mates in WA who ranged from knockabout to knucklehead. It would seem that the support he was receiving at the time wasn't constructive. That video of him [censored] as a cricket dancing around in a dress a couple of months after the trade was a pretty good indicator of what returning to Perth could do to him. Knowing that he was setting up a trap for himself prior to a potential move would have saved him a lot of heartache.

Positionally, him staying probably wouldn't have helped us win a flag. May, Lever and Petty (in rotation with Tomlinson) and the zone defence has been the key difference from making the 2021 MFC distinct from other finals bound incarnations of it. It doesn't happen without the May trade. It's just that simple.

After listening to Jack on his podcast with Crawf, I did lose some sympathy for him as even four years removed from the trade, it seems it still hasn't sunk in why he was traded. 

Jack got the nurturing coach he wanted in 2014 in Paul Roos who proceeded to treat him mostly with kid gloves over the 3 years he was there (besides dropping him for round 22 in 2015). He was definitely a marked improvement on Mark Neeld's man management style. Jack had plenty of time to heal and acquire the habits to become an elite footballer.

When the transition to Goody became a reality, it almost seemed like Jack was the kid in class who decided to muck up for the new guy to see how far he could get away with rubbish. I remember him turning up to day one of 2017 preseason training looking like Angelface from Fight Club (prior to his beatdown by Edward Norton), his shorts hanging dangerously close to the south of the equator and, from all reports, with subpar skin folds.

After convincing Goody to get him back into the 22, and playing reasonably well, he gets injured. His last game against the Dogs was actually a solid 4 quarter performance with excellent field kicking, presenting and contesting (similar to the role Ben Brown plays now albeit that he plays a little deeper forward). His loss would be felt for sure and we needed him back ASAP. So what did he do then? I think we all know.

Goody is no despot despite what the Hun makes out. Realizing Jack could play but was amazingly immature (which also would play out at Port), he jettisoned him off. We get Fritsch, who was our second or third best player in the GF and the leading goal kicker in our GF year. He's probably not as irreplaceable as Maysie, but you can't deny we won that trade. Port also didn't play one final with him on the field. Coincidence? I think not.

And when Jack went on the podcast? No signs of regret expressed like Jess about how things could have been different if he'd chosen differently at certain stages of his career (i.e. from 2014 onwards when he was given the environment he claimed he'd thrive in). It was almost like he was still trying to win the PR war that we were wrong to trade him when we were entirely justified in doing so.

Edited March 15, 2022 by Colin B. Flaubert
Correction about Jack being on Port's list and them being in finals.

[picket fence 17,169]

On 2/12/2022 at 11:52 PM, Wizard of Koz said:

Are you sure?

I know Wattsy was an excellent trainer , make no mistake