Fremantle are not going to rush the recovery of star forward Jesse Hogan heading into the 2020 AFL season, according to general manager of football Peter Bell.
Hogan played 12 games for Fremantle in 2019 before his season ended with a recurrence of a foot injury in round 14 against Melbourne.
Speaking to 6PR, Bell was upbeat about Hogan’s prospects for the 2020 season but said the club would take caution with his return to full training.
Bell added that Fremantle took a similar approach with fellow key forward Matt Taberner.
“It is going to be slow and steady,” Bell told 6PR.
“I wouldn’t put an exact time frame on it, but we wouldn’t expect him to be (in full training) before Christmas.
“Matt Taberner possibly could have played late in the year, but we decided to take a more conservative approach.”
Bell said Fremantle expect their tall forwards to have a big impact in 2020.
“We feel we have some potent key forwards, so to maximise that potency we have to make sure we get the ball in there as much as possible,” he said.
“It is incumbent on us to win more games of football.
“We know there are no easy games in the AFL and we will be working hard over pre-season to put out a really competitive team for as many weeks as possible.”
Fremantle’s first to four-year players officially return for pre-season training on Monday but Bell said that many of the players have already been working hard at the club on their own time.
“They’ve had a nice amount of time off but a lot of them have been through the football club,” Bell said.
“They’ve had their holidays but there’s been a steady trickle of players down here using the facilities.
“It’s been great to keep in contact with them and they’ve been having numerous conversations with Justin Longmuir as well.
“It is an exciting time of year when you start to get the group back.”
