Fremantle general manager of football Peter Bell is confident star forward Jesse Hogan will reach his peak at the Fremantle Dockers after agreeing to a three-year deal with the club on Wednesday. 

The 23-year-old was one of the biggest names to switch clubs in the 2018 NAB AFL Trade Period, with Fremantle securing the 195cm key forward, who kicked 152 goals from 71 games for Melbourne.

As well as Hogan, Fremantle signed three other West Australians in Rory Lobb, Travis Colyer and Reece Conca.

And after starting with only picks 6 and 81, Fremantle now have selections in every round of the 2018 NAB AFL National Draft with picks 14, 31, 43 and 65.

“We’re thrilled to have Jesse at the club,” said Bell.

“Melbourne, of course, had a very talented player on their list and I want to again acknowledge Melbourne and the way they approached this whole negotiation. 

“We think that Jesse will play his best football in Western Australia. That’s our hope.”

While Hogan would instantly improve any forward line in the AFL, Fremantle also added versatile forward/ruck Rory Lobb in a deal with GWS.

The pair is set to be a formidable duo in attack at Freo.

“Rory Lobb…he’s an exceptional athlete, 207cm tall and he provides us with some flexibility as well,” Bell said.

“He’s a forward, we want to use him as a forward, but he can help out in the ruck as well.

“Aaron Sandilands is playing again next season and we’ve got a young ruckman that we’ve got high hopes for in Sean Darcy, but it’s great to have Rory there for that added little bit of flexibility.” 

Fremantle’s forward line was exposed at times during the 2018 season when key forward Matt Taberner missed 13 games due to a foot injury. 

Through the additions of Hogan and Lobb, Bell said Fremantle able to utilise their forwards in more suitable roles while adding more depth.

“We think Matt Taberner, even though he had an injury this year, played some terrific football,” Bell said.

“We think that Brennan Cox, for a 19-year-old, has performed exceptionally well.

“Then there’s Cam McCarthy and we know how dangerous Cam can be when there are other forwards there as well.

“We saw that in his first year at GWS. So we’re really pleased to be able to build a bit of key position depth.”

While Bell was disappointed to see Fremantle lose a player of Lachie Neale's calibre in a trade with Brisbane, he said the move helped facilitate the Hogan and Lobb deals, with Fremantle receiving picks 6 and 19 for the midfielder.

“It’s hard to say goodbye to a two-time Doig medallist,” Bell said.

“He’s a great player, he’s 25 years of age. It’s disappointing to lose him. We wish him well.

“They’re getting married, Jules (Clark) and Lachie, in a little while and he’s up for an exciting next phase of his football career.

“Once Lachie wanted to leave, we were able to do a deal that satisfied Fremantle and our members, our supporters and our stakeholders, we were comfortable with that.”

Bell said that Fremantle have a number of promising young midfielders who can step up and take on the vacant role left by Neale but didn’t rule out adding more midfield talent in November’s NAB AFL National Draft.

“Clearly, with Lachie exiting, we’re hopeful that Connor Blakely will stand up and Andrew Brayshaw and Adam Cerra and many of the other young players that we’ve added,” Bell said. 

“I’ll leave the drafting to our draft team. In fact, I might mention the team here because the whole collective have done an extraordinary job with it all. 

“We’ve been particularly busy during this trade period and that wouldn’t have been able to be achieved without a terrific team effort.”