ON THE 12-month anniversary of hearing his own cancer had returned, inspirational Hawthorn captain Jarryd Roughead says he will offer his support to Jesse Hogan to help the young Demon through his battle with testicular cancer.
Hogan missed last Saturday's 41-point win over Adelaide after learning about his diagnosis two days before the game.
The cancer has been detected very early and with the 22-year-old set for surgery on Tuesday, he is expected to make a full recovery and could be back within four weeks.
Roughead missed all of 2016, first with knee surgery and then for the return of melanoma that spread throughout his body.
"You send out your messages and offer support but in saying that, the next couple of weeks are about him getting right," Roughead said at Waverley on Tuesday.
"It's been reported that he's got surgery so you hope that goes well and everything gets taken care of and, then when the dust settles, it might be time to reach out and offer a hand if he wants to have a chat."
Carlton defender Sam Rowe has had his own challenges with testicular cancer and Roughead pointed out very few AFL players could know what Hogan was feeling.
"I'm one of the only few that can. It's 12 months today that I found out. It brings back memories and emotions of what happened in the last 12 months and then you hear of someone who's been through a fair bit in the past month and then to go through this, you don't wish that upon anyone," he said.
Roughead, 30, is yet to contact Hogan, having only heard of the news today. The dual All Australian pointed out his situation wasn't the same as Hogan's.
"Mine and his are completely different, even though the big word is the word starting with 'c'. You don't want to hear that at all," he said.