JESSE Hogan has revealed he used to have set shots for goal the night he played matches – at Collingwood’s training base.
Speaking on Inside Melbourne, the key forward said he would have a handful of kicks on Olympic Park Oval in preparation for his match days.
“Before every game in my first year, I used to walk to the club the night before [a match] and have three set shots on Collingwood’s ground, at each end, at 10pm,” he said.
“There would be a game on at the ‘G and I would have to walk past [the crowd]. I was really superstitious.
“Before my first game, I was really, really nervous, so I decided to walk to the club and I had a footy in my hand. I just happened to have one shot and then I just did it and I played pretty well [the following day].
“I did it every game and then I’d get to the night before the game and I thought ‘I can’t be bothered doing this’, but I was so superstitious that I had to do it.”
Hogan said he stopped it because he wanted to see how he’d play, if he didn’t have his set-shot routine the night before.
“I must’ve played all right, because I couldn’t be bothered doing it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hogan said he could understand what fellow key forward, out-of-contract Tom Lynch from Gold Coast was going through – in relation to weighing up his playing future.
“It’s a tough decision. I think Gold Coast, starting as well as they have, is a good sign, but it’s going to be a super, super hard decision – one way or another,” he said.
“I couldn’t tell you what he’s going to do, but he’s going to be the topic of conversation all year. It’s just going to get louder and louder.
“You try and avoid it as much as you can, but it’s always going to be there.”