GREATER Western Sydney spearhead Jesse Hogan has climbed to equal-first in the Coleman Medal race but coach Adam Kinglsey remains solely focused on the Giants' premiership hopes.
Hogan booted four goals in the Giants' 39-point victory over Gold Coast at Engie Stadium on Saturday to move alongside two-time leading goalkicker Charlie Curnow on 49 majors for the season.
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The key forward's strong marking and reliable goalkicking has him firmly in the frame to become the Giants' second Coleman medallist after Jeremy Cameron took out the honour in 2019.
"It would be nice but it's certainly not what we play the game for," Kingsley said.
"It's good to have a bit of recognition and reward, but I'd like to think that the internal rewards that he gets far outweigh anything externally that he'll get.
"We don't play for Coleman Medals, we play for a premiership medal and we're continuing to build towards that."
Hogan has kicked 13 goals in three games the Giants have boosted their top-four hopes with three consecutive wins.
His 49 majors equals his career-best season haul last year with five rounds and potentially finals still to come.
The 29-year-old had a late opportunity to add to his tally against the Suns, after taking a mark on the edge of the goalsquare, but handballed to emerging forward Aaron Cadman for his only goal of the day.
"That's a true reflection of Jesse's mindset, incredibly unselfish," Kinglsey said.
"It would have been very easy for him to go, and I'm sure he knows 'I could kick this goal and be ahead, but no, I'll handball it to the free player in the goal square and he can kick it'."
Giants midfielder Toby Bedford went straight back into a lockdown role after having a three-match suspension for rough conduct overturned on appeal.
Bedford ran with Noah Anderson for much of the contest and while the Suns' gun midfielder gathered 27 disposals, his impact on the match was noticeably limited.
The 24-year-old showed few signs of changing the way that he plays, even after the uncertainty over his own availability during the past week.
"Obviously it was a big week. I thought he was really strong around the contest, again tackled, he had the same number (13) as last week," Kingsley said.
"Didn't get himself into trouble this week, which is nice, was a bit more of a reasonable player in his tackling."
The Suns had their opportunities to snap a horror record on the road with 66-47 inside 50s, but wayward kicking for goal that ended with 6.14 ensured they lost a ninth-straight away match.
Ben King was the worst culprit near goal, finishing with 0.3 from seven attempts including six set shots as he failed to deal with the blustery conditions.
Despite the loss that puts a hefty dent in the Suns' finals hopes, coach Damien Hardwick praised Lachie Weller for a "terrific start" in his first match in 378 days after suffering a second torn ACL.
"We had 28 shots, eight that didn't actually trouble the scores, to 19," Hardwick said.
"I thought we exerted dominance. We just couldn't capitalise on the scoreboard and then they kicked incredibly well.
"(King) is normally a very straight, diligent kick on goal. It just deserted him today unfortunately."
