KEY forward Jesse Hogan has laughed off comparisons to now retired Brisbane Lions great Jonathan Brown.

Hogan, speaking in the lead-up to his first AFL match for Melbourne against the Gold Coast Suns at the MCG on Saturday, was uncomfortable with being likened to the triple premiership player. 

“Honestly, it's an honour that people say that stuff about me. It's a bit unfortunate when a teammate says that,” he said.

“They mean well and you'd rather be compared to someone like that than someone who's not playing.

“It gives me a bit of confidence, but it is what it is.”

Hogan said he was handling the pressure so far in the lead-up to his AFL debut.

“I went for a surf yesterday (Wednesday) to take my mind off it so it hasn't really sunk in,” he said.

“At the moment I'm feeling not too bad.

“Roosy's been really good about it. When I got to the club as a 17-year-old there was a fair bit going on.

“It's a hard one to ignore. You can ignore it as much as you possibly want to but you read something or you hear something and you try to avoid it, but what can you do?

Hogan said he caught up with teammate Chris Dawes, who will be missing the opening round due to suspension, in the lead-up to round one to gain some insight.

“I caught up for coffee with him yesterday to have a chat about it. He just said to keep doing what I'm doing,” he said.