Jesse Hogan's injury frustrations have continued after suffering a knock against the Western Bulldogs last Thursday night, meaning he will be managed for the third time in six weeks.
GWS senior coach Adam Kingsley said that the Giants did not want to risk any further damage ahead of a potential finals campaign, stating that the decision for Hogan to play against the Bulldogs in Round 21 was a gamble that didn't pay off. However, the club are hopeful he will return for a potential finals preview against Gold Coast in Round 23.
"Jesse's just got inflammation in that foot that just provides some pain. He got a knock early in the Bulldogs game that restricted him pretty severely," Kingsley told media on Friday.
"It's just one of those things. Week-on, week-off was the plan... Obviously, he's a really important player to us and has been for a long period of time now. We're trying to manage it so he can get close to his best each and every week, but we didn't manage to do that last week.
"We felt like he recovered really well after the Sydney game, so we sort of rolled the dice and it didn't quite go our way. He'll be managed again, but hopefully, depending on how he trains and how his foot feels throughout that Gold Coast week, he'll come back in for that game.
"It's not ideal, but it's what we have to deal with as well as we possibly can. If that means that we move past him in the short term, then that's the way we'll go."
The Giants will play their final Canberra-based game of the season this weekend against a lowly North Melbourne, needing a big win to build some much-needed percentage ahead of the late-season top-eight squeeze.
