JESSE Hogan’s future at Melbourne remains unclear, with the forward yet to decide on his home next season.

Despite being contracted with the red and blue until the end of 2019, Hogan is considering a return to Western Australia, with the 23-year-old set to make up his mind ahead of the NAB AFL Trade Period.

“Jesse has a bit of thinking to do over the next few days,” General Manager of football operations Josh Mahoney told NAB AFL Trade Radio.

“He’s at stage in his career that he’s got to think what is the next phase for him, and he said to us that one thing he wants to consider is going back to Perth.

“He’s got to meet with a few different people, but it’s a chance at this stage.”

Hogan played 20 games for the Demons this year, with a foot injury ruling him out of the last four matches and Melbourne’s finals campaign.   

He kicked 47 goals, while also providing flexibility in his dual forward line and midfield role.

“You never want to consider a player leaving of the talent that he’s got, but he does come from WA, as is spoken about each year,” Mahoney said.

“He may turn around and say he wants to stay but he also might say he wants to go.  

“There’s certainly nothing in concrete at the moment.”

Speculation of a Hogan departure has been fuelled further by the Demons’ interest in Gold Coast defender Steven May.

Although still contracted with the Suns for another year, Mahoney confirmed Melbourne has met with the 26-year-old twice.  

“Steven May is a player we have been tracking for a little while,” he said.

“He still has to make a decision whether he wants to leave Gold Coast, but we think as a club, if he decides to come to Melbourne, we’d be a really good choice for him.

“He’s the type of player we need in our backline and we’ll be able to do a deal if that opportunity does come.”  

Despite acknowledging the potential of a Hogan-May trade, Mahoney reinforced that several choices still need to be made.

“The only link is that we wouldn’t be able to afford to get Steven May with Jesse on our list,” he said.

“There is a decision to be made first of all by Jesse and then what flows out of that are the things that we’ll consider over the next week.”

“We’ve been supportive of Jesse the whole way through and whatever his decision is, we’ll support that.”

Josh Mahoney’s Trade Talk

Jesse Hogan: “He said to us that one thing he wants to consider is going back to Perth. He’s got to meet with a few different people, but it’s a chance at this stage.”

Dom Tyson: “Discussions with Dom have been around opportunities to play in his prime position, which is an inside-mid. He’s looking for opportunities to play that role and we’re supportive of him to look for those opportunities. We’re comfortable if Dom decides he wants to stay at Melbourne, too.”

Aaron vandenBerg: “This has been forced out of personal circumstances. His mother is moving to Sydney and that created the opportunity for him to look at the Sydney Swans. It’s one that’s out of our control at the moment, but we can’t stress enough that we want him to stay at Melbourne.”

Dean Kent: “Dean spoke to us and said that he would like to go to St Kilda. It’s through lack of opportunities for Dean, which has mainly been on the back of injuries. We’ll hopefully sit down with St Kilda and get a trade done during this period.”

Jayden Hunt: “He’s the type of player we need. We certainly won’t be entertaining anything with Jayden – we think he’s got a lot of upside and look forward to him having a full pre-season and getting back to the form he was in a couple of years ago.”

Steven May (Gold Coast): “He is a player we have been tracking for a little while. He still has to make a decision whether he wants to leave Gold Coast, but we think as a club, if he decides to come to Melbourne, we’d be a really good choice for him.”

Braydon Preuss (North Melbourne): “We need some support for Max Gawn in the ruck, and Braydon hasn’t been getting a game (at North Melbourne). He is an option, but he is among a number of different options for us in that role.”

Kade Kolodjashnij (Gold Coast): “He’s the type of player we’re looking for. At 190cm, playing off half back and playing wing, we think that’ll really bolster the strength of our running midfield. We’ve spoken to Gold Coast and hopefully we’ll get a trade done.”

Andrew Gaff (West Coast): “We don’t stop asking the question, but we’ve been told to stay away for a fair period of time.”