FOR THE first time in a long time, Jesse Hogan is loving playing football, and for him, there's no surprises why.

Now into his ninth season in the AFL, Hogan has seen plenty, starting his career as a boom young key forward at Melbourne, moving home to Fremantle, and now living a more anonymous life in Sydney with the Giants.

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But it's getting his troublesome body right that has the 28-year-old excited about playing consistently.

Since late in the 2021 season, Hogan has played 31 of a possible 37 matches, never missing more than one week at any stage, and is now in his best nick in at least five years.

Speaking to AFL.com.au on the eve of the Sydney Derby, the key forward said there was no secret to what was working.

"It can be a pretty dark place the footy world, especially if it's the uncontrollables and your body is letting you down a bit, which it did for me for a few years," Hogan said.

"It can be not as enjoyable as it once was when you were 15 or 16 and running around.

"As you get older you have to put time into those small things.

"All these small things add up to having more confidence in my body on game day and I've started to enjoy footy again."

Those "small things" include doing pilates up to four times a week, constantly changing his gym program and checking his training volume every week.

The on-field results are there.

In 71 games across four seasons with Melbourne, Hogan kicked 152 goals - an average of 2.1 a game - and showed himself to be one of the best young contested marks in the game, hauling in 1.75 each contest.

After two tough years in the west and a slow return to form once moving to Greater Western Sydney, Hogan is now hitting those heights again.

Last season he kicked 35 goals from 18 games and just as importantly got back to his marking best with 38 contested grabs (2.1 a game).

That has continued in the opening six rounds of 2023, with 12 goals and 14 contested marks – third most in the AFL.

"I do a lot of work on that and pride myself on it as a key forward," he said.

"The timing is massive. The more you're out there doing it, the more confidence you have going into game day.

"It all comes back to being able to train more and having that continuity and being clean because you've had the reps against high quality backs like Jack Buckley and Sam Taylor … the more you do that stuff, the more confident you get.

"To be able to put a lot of time into it and to take a few this year has been enjoyable and is a bit of reward for effort."

Hogan says there's no doubt moving away from the AFL-centric Melbourne and Perth has played a role in his enjoyment.

"It's good to be able to tune out of it a bit," he said.

"Don't get me wrong, you love those states because it creates such good energy around the game, but for my unique circumstances it was best for me to be in an environment such as this.

"I am really enjoying it.

"The more I'm enjoying it, the more I'm doing the small things with my body.

"I've played 27 of the last 30 games or something (31 of 37) … coming to the Giants I don't think many people would have given me much of a chance to do that.

"It's just a different world and for me, it's been great."

Not only is Hogan now living in a third state, he has also walked into one of the best rivalries in the AFL.

He's played for Melbourne against Collingwood on Queen's Birthday and played in the Western Derby, but says there's nothing quite like the Giants playing the Swans.

"I've played in a few Derbies and there's a lot more feeling in these," he said.

"This has five times, 10 times more feeling in it in my opinion that what those game had, with all due respect.

"The Giants coming in as a young team and getting bullied by the Swans a bit and then the Giants having a little bit of success and having a bit of pent up anger giving it back to them has created this really healthy rivalry.

"It's very real, it's very real … this one has a lot of feel to it.

"There is almost that level of hatred there that has been brewing over a bit of time.

"These games are fun to play in. They're extremely fulfilling to win and hurt like crazy to lose."