The Giants seemed to be headed towards a rebuild after four solid seasons had yielded in a bunch of finals appearances without the ultimate success. 

Since GWS first made its finals debut in 2016, the club had steadily lost talent as rival clubs around the competition picked them off one by one. By the end of 2020, the crown jewel of the Giants' forward line, Jeremy Cameron, was next to go. 

After some prolonged negotiations during the trade period, Cameron was begrudgingly dealt to Geelong in exchange for three first-round picks. 

At the time, Cameron's exit seemed destined to slam the Giants' premiership window shut. 

At the back end of that same trade period, the Giants made a deal that hardly anyone around the competition batted an eye at — they acquired Jesse Hogan from Fremantle in exchange for pick 54.

After a few injury-plagued seasons, Hogan made his debut for Melbourne in 2015 and proved an instant success, kicking 44 goals in 20 games that season to win the AFL's Rising Star award. 

Hogan played a key part in lifting Melbourne from perennial cellar-dwellers to finals contenders, before he requested a trade to his home state of Western Australia, eventually joining Fremantle. 

However, a dream homecoming soon turned into a nightmare for the once-promising forward, whose career spiralled due to a spate of injuries and mental health challenges.

"That period of my life is something I'm going to carry with me forever," Hogan told the ABC Sport Daily podcast this week.

"I have a lot of resentment towards myself and how I handled it. I absolutely didn't help myself in a lot of regards just through being injured and not being able to get the best out of myself and you could feel the pressure building and not being able to hold up my end of the bargain was a lot. 

Hogan ended this year's home and away season by winning the Coleman Medal after kicking 69 goals. He is the second Giant to win the prestigious goal-kicking award after Cameron did so in 2019. 

The 29-year-old is all but certain to be named in the final All-Australian team later this year, in what would be a first for his career. But such accolades were the furthest thing from his mind when he arrived at the Giants after a wretched run of injuries saw him have significant trouble, particularly with a troublesome navicular bone in his foot.

"I remember when I first got to the Giants, sitting down with the medicos and we were just trying to map out how to get to 16 games," he recalled.

"Coming off two naviculars and six calves in about 14 months, my career was almost over, to be honest. If you do a third navicular it's pretty much curtains and once your calves go, the end can come pretty quick. 

"The last two years, I think I've only missed three or four games. This year just to play every game and to compete and have faith in my body that I can go out there and I've done the work, that was my goal. 

"I've never really been in a position to be an All-Australian or be in the Coleman race at the end of the year. I just wanted the opportunity to be able to compete every week."

Hogan's resurgence has coincided with that of his football club. In senior coach Adam Kinsley's two seasons at the Giants, Hogan has 118 goals in 46 appearances. GWS made a surprise run to a preliminary final last year before losing by one point to eventual premiers Collingwood. This year, the club is poised to make another deep run into September. 

Despite the personal accolades that are starting to come his way, Hogan is playing for a greater purpose: his three siblings, his mother, and his late father, who died of cancer in 2017.

"They've had to ride the journey with me and it hasn't always been easy," he said of his family.

"Just to see the joy it brings to them is probably what I play for, to be honest. I get more fulfilment out of seeing my mum happy after a game than what I receive from winning a game. 

"It's definitely a big part of the reason why I play. Just to speak to them and hear their joy brings me a lot of joy."

While his father has not been around to witness Hogan turning his career around, the star forward still carries memories of him. 

"It's (his father's memory) something I do think about quite often. If I speak to my brother or my sisters or mum, it's something that always comes up," he said.

"He comes into my thoughts a fair bit and yeah, he played a huge role in my journey and I don't think I'd be standing here if it wasn't for his support in those earlier days, just growing up and giving me the best opportunity to do what I wanted to do with no pressure, but just guiding me in the right direction."

Hogan also credited his partner Chloe for helping him find a healthy work-life balance that has allowed his football career to thrive.

"It's the most settled I've been," he said.

"My work-life balance, I've been with my partner for two years now and what she's done for me has been nothing short of outstanding. 

"On reflection, there's no way I'd be in this position without her. Being happy away from the footy club has played such a big part in me going to work and enjoying it and getting the most out of myself there, but then being able to disconnect."

Next season, it will be a decade since Hogan burst onto the scene and took the AFL by storm in his debut season with Melbourne. 

He becomes the first player in league history to win the Coleman Medal after winning the Rising Star earlier in his career. 

It has been a circuitous journey for Hogan to finally deliver on all the early promise he showed when he entered the league, a journey he could not have scripted.

"If you'd told me after my first two years at the Dees that I'd end up at the Giants, I'd have told you, 'You're absolutely taking the mickey, there's no possible chance I'll end up being the happiest I've ever been in my footy career playing in a Sydney-based team', but that's how it's unfolded," he said.

"It was never in my wildest dreams to end up at this footy club, but since I've moved here it's been fantastic. Everything about the club is so warm and welcoming and being in Sydney a little bit away from the spotlight is interesting. That's one thing I do reflect on — how I got to the Giants — and it does blow my mind a little bit.

"I wouldn't have imagined myself getting here. If you played out 100 different scripts when I got drafted, being in this position at a team that's got the double chance in the finals, a Sydney-based team, it's hard to explain."

Hogan may not have scripted his career path, but given his current success, it is hard to believe he would have his journey pan out any other way.