Senior coach Justin Longmuir said it ‘makes sense’ to bring forward Jesse Hogan in for Sunday’s clash with Port Adelaide at Metricon Stadium.

With the loss of Sean Darcy to a knee injury, a potential return of Hogan could free versatile forward Rory Lobb to play in the ruck.

“He (Hogan) will come under strong consideration,” Longmuir told SEN SA.

“We’ve lost our ruckman on the weekend and Lobb is going to have to do a fair bit of ruck work so there’s a spot for a tall forward and it makes a lot of sense at this stage that he comes in. 

“(Hogan’s) going to be really close. It was a really tough decision last week and it just came back to whether he was AFL ready. Not just for one week, but for 16 weeks.” 

Longmuir said Hogan handled his non-inclusion against Brisbane well and impressed in a match simulation for non-selected players.

“I was really impressed by the way he handled himself last week,” Longmuir said. 

“He was clearly disappointed when I told him he wasn’t playing, but he didn’t drop his bundle, he trained really well and the most impressive thing is when he went back and played against the Brisbane reserves he not only performed really well, he showed some strong leadership skills with some of the younger players down there.”

While Hogan’s talent as a forward is undeniable, Longmuir said Hogan had done to work to earn a place in the team.

“He spent in total with the shutdown three months away from the football club,” Longmuir said.

“When he came back it was noticeable from day one that he had put in the work not only physically, but he seems a lot clearer mentally, a lot more connected to the group and a lot more committed.

“Our leaders have been judging him on his actions and he hasn’t put a foot wrong so far, so it’s a real credit to himself.” 

Hogan was one of a handful of players to hit the waves on the Gold Coast on the players’ day off on Wednesday, joining the likes of Griffin Logue, Matt Taberner, Lachie Schultz, Brett Bewley, Nat Fyfe and Connor Blakely at Burleigh Heads.