Demons cut some slack for Hogan

MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin says some wayward behaviour by young forward Jesse Hogan has been put in perspective by the death of his father, Tony.

Goodwin said he would have liked to have defended Hogan, who was criticised for uncharacteristically lashing out and striking Carlton’s Sam Rowe off the ball in their Round 2 clash and then photographed smoking while on the two-game ban.

“Of course you would. Jesse’s a terrific young man who’s been going through a really difficult phase,” Goodwin said yesterday.

“Obviously there’s been a bit of heat on Jesse for a number of different things over the past four or five weeks that have probably been unfair in a lot of ways with what he’s going through and what he’s dealing with.

“Hopefully now we get some perspective and can give Jesse some time to really get his mind sorted and back focused on footy when he’s ready to focus on footy and we’ll support him as much as we can.”

Hogan’s father died on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. Jesse Hogan will miss the Demons’ clash with Essendon tomorrow as he heads to Adelaide for the funeral.

Goodwin said he had exchanged text messages with the 22-year-old but there was no set date for his return.

“He’ll come back to training and playing when Jesse feels like he’s ready,” Goodwin said.