Queanbeyan Kangaroos forward Mark Hogan is aiming to turn out in what will be his 21st year with the club next season. Photo: Andrew Johnston
A BURNING desire to bag an elusive premiership will likely see Queanbeyan Kangaroos forward Mark Hogan pull on the maroon and white jersey for one last campaign next season.
This weekend, Hogan is set to become one of just three current players at the Kangaroos to be awarded for 20 years of service at Freebody Oval at the club’s annual presentation night.
But despite having plied his trade for the Roos over two decades, the 29-year-old is still yet to taste grand final success with the club.
“At the moment my knee’s no good but I’m going to try and make a comeback next year,” Hogan said. “I was planning on this year being my last but I want to try and win a grand final before I retire.
“I don’t want to go out on a bad note so I’m going to give it one more year and hopefully we can get up.”
Hogan spent the first half of last season in reserve grade before a season-ending knee injury saw him forced onto the sidelines.
And while Hogan will need to go under the knife if he’s to return to the field, the veteran said quitting on such a note was an unpalatable proposition.
Despite having spent the past decade as a member of the Roos’ senior ranks, Hogan missed out on being part of the club’s back-to-back premiership successes in 2010 and 2011.
“I played the first-half of the season in firsts [in 2010] but I didn’t think I was performing well enough so I dropped myself back to reserve grade and ended up missing out on all the action,” Hogan said.
“I wasn’t concentrating enough on my footy and felt like I was letting my teammates down at the time. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore.
“In hindsight I probably should have stuck it out given what happened but you can’t live in the past.”
Hogan started playing with the Kangaroos in the under-6s before making his first-grade debut in 2003 at a time when the club was struggling to remain competitive.
In 2004 he was part of the club’s reserve grade grand final side that went down to arch-rivals the Queanbeyan Blues. Hogan joins fellow reserve grade regulars Pete Hunt and Luke Milianis as the only current players to have notched up 20 years with the club.
