GWS ready to unleash star recruit

GWS Giants coach Leon Cameron is ready to unleash his new recruit Jesse Hogan.

Hogan, acquired in a trade from Fremantle in the off-season, has built up the match fitness required to step into top-flight competition after three games for the Giants’ second-tier team.

The hardworking 26-year-old forward has endured a frustrating start to life with the Giants with a quad injury impacting his preparation for the season.

Cameron will likely call on the 90-game, 170-goal recruit for a Giants debut away to the Adelaide Crows on Saturday if he can get through the training week unscathed.

“He’s going to be cherry ripe now,” Cameron said.

“We were rapt with his performance [in the VFL match against Footscray on Thursday night] on a tough night last night.

“He’s done everything right in [the last] three weeks and we look forward to welcoming him into our team.

“Without confirming it right now, he’s clearly a massive chance to play next weekend.”

While Cameron will be thrilled to add the experience of Hogan to the Giants forward line, he cautioned against expecting too much from him from the word go.

He believes that Hogan will need time to mesh with his new teammates and regain his feet at AFL level before showing his true value to the side.

“It will take a little while to get used to his leading patterns and what he does bring, but he’s got a huge work rate, he’s clearly a good contested mark and if he can add another forward that can disturb the opposition then by all means we’ll be looking at that,” Cameron said.

“There will be some connection challenges over the coming weeks when he does come in, but we’re really rapt with the way he’s progressing in the last couple of weeks.”

The Bulldogs continued their unbeaten run at the Giants’ expense on Friday night.Source:Getty Images

Cameron believes player fatigue is starting to set in across the competition, with the game being played at a breakneck speed after the introduction of the new stand rule.

Alarm bells are ringing for Cameron following a hamstring injury to one of his key players, Nick Haynes, in Friday night’s 39-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in Canberra, and he is querying if the speed of the game played a part.

“He hasn’t done a hamstring before in his life,” Cameron said.

“When Haynes does a hamstring, there’s a little concern.

“It’s an interesting one and I’ll let the experts work that out.”

Cameron lauded the four-goal performance of his star forward Toby Greene against the Bulldogs.

Asked if the Giants have become too Greene-conscious, Cameron said it was a case of Greene’s work rate and presentation that made his teammates want to honour his leads, not a directive from the coaches box to play through him.

“He’s always putting himself in a great position,” he said.

“He works so hard to get there.

“He’s a wonderful player.”

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