THE last time a Melbourne player kicked at least seven goals in a match was nine years ago.

That was when Russell Robertson booted seven majors to help Melbourne to a 13-point win over Collingwood on Queen’s Birthday at the MCG in 2007. 

You have to look back even further for the last time a Melbourne player bagged seven goals in a losing side: round four, 1997, when David Neitz booted seven goals against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.

It only highlights the effort Jesse Hogan achieved against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, when he kicked seven goals in just his 26^th AFL match.

It was an outstanding performance by Hogan, who achieved his feat as Melbourne went down by 39 points.

Despite his achievement, Hogan said he’d “much rather kick goals when you’re winning”.

“I hadn’t been in great form,” he told Melbourne TV.

“I’d been around the ground getting a bit of it, but I hadn’t been putting anything on the scoreboard, so for me, I can take a little bit of confidence out of it, but at the same time, it’s bittersweet – you want to kick a bag in a winning game.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it done.”

From a football lover’s point of view, it was a real treat watching Hogan at one end and St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt at the other. And that’s no disrespect to Saint Tim Membrey, who joined in the party with a personal-best five goals of his own in a most impressive display. It was also his first match of the 2016 season.

Entering the match, it was billed as the clash between the great and the young gun.

In the end, little separated Hogan and Riewoldt in performances.

Even Champion Data rated the pair as the best two players on the ground. Hogan just took the honours with 139 points; Riewoldt had 137.

Aside from Hogan’s game-high goals, he also had 16 disposals, including 12 contested and eight marks. Riewoldt had 24 disposals, a match-best 14 marks, three goals and three scoring assists.

For coach Paul Roos, Hogan’s game showed “how far he’s come as a player”.

“He got criticised after the Essendon game for his body language and he’s really worked hard over the last month,” he said.

“We’ve been really happy with the amount of contests he’s been getting to and it was a reward for that three-week effort that he’s put in on the training track.

“He really puts in … and kicks goals and last week he didn’t [kick any goals] against [Alex] Rance, but I was really happy with his game. It’s great when you see a young kid working really hard at his craft and then getting some reward for it.”

In his first AFL match, Christian Petracca said it wasn’t just Hogan’s goalkicking achievements that stood out to him.

“He was very good, [but it] just his movement [that was good],” he said.

“It wasn’t so much about the scoreboard and seeing how many he kicked, but it was more about the work rate he does and everything else he does.

“He’s a very [good] team player and everything he does for his teammates is not really shown on the TV. He’s a really good communicator and gets around the boys as well.”

Hogan has now kicked 16 goals for the season, sitting equal sixth on the goalkicking table.

But the 21-year-old said playing in a forward line consisting of the likes of Jack Watts (14 goals so far this season), plus some exciting small forwards such as Jeff Garlett, made Melbourne’s attack a better prospect this season.

“Our forward line this year, it’s not so much revolved around me and Jeffy kicking the majority of goals. We’ve got a great chemistry down there and Wattsy’s gone to a whole other level this year and he’s kicking goals,” he said.

“Jeffy played last week and kicked four, so I think we’ve got a lot more options and we’re more versatile. Frosty’s kicking goals and Kenty kicked four not too long ago.

“We’ve got a versatile more gelled forward line where we’re not relied on a centre half-forward or a certain forward to kick goals. Everyone gets their turn at same stage.”

On the weekend it was Hogan, but you suspect he’ll be getting a regular turn at it.