Jesse Hogan’s AFL career has been put on hold following the shock news that the star Melbourne forward has been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Michael Gleeson is reporting the 22-year-old will have surgery this afternoon, but it is not known whether he will have to undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy afterwards.
A timetable has not been set on his return, and the Demons are due to make a statement on Hogan’s health later today. However, they do expect him to make a full recovery.
In a statement on the club’s website, it was revealed Hogan was made aware of the diagnosis last week.
“The club’s collective heart is with Jesse Hogan” said Melbourne’s general manager of football, Josh Mahony. “This is clearly a very difficult time for Jesse and his health and wellbeing is the number one priority for us.
“We informed the players of this on Friday and respected Jesse’s wishes to keep this information private up until this point.
“Jesse will obviously miss a period of football due to this surgery but we expect him to make a full recovery and return to AFL in the short-term future.”
The Demons have called for the public and media to respect Hogan’s privacy.
The diagnosis is the latest bit of recent bad news for Hogan, whose father passed away a fortnight ago.
The Demon has been one of the AFL’s brightest young stars, winning the AFL Rising Star award in his rookie season and averaging more than two goals per game in his 45 matches for Melbourne over the course of his career.
Hogan, of course, isn’t the only player to be forced out of the game due to cancer. Current Hawthorn captain Jarryd Roughead spent all of 2016 on the sidelines to treat a melanoma in his lip.
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