Hogan has been at Melbourne for more than two years, but after being selected with the second pick in the 2012 mini-draft, he was not eligible to play senior footy for his first 12 months at AAMI Park, because he was under-age.

The 20-year-old whetted the appetites of Demons fans in 2013, as he won their VFL affiliate Casey's best and fairest with 39 goals.

Hogan was on course to make his debut at the start of last season, but a back injury sustained in a practice game against Geelong just eight days before round one put paid to that, and it turned out to be a season-ending problem.

However, that is now all behind him, and one of the most talked-about players to have never played a game has relative control over his nerves – for the time being.

"I'm handling it pretty well so far," Hogan said before Melbourne's meeting with Gold Coast at the MCG on Saturday.

"It hasn't settled in so much. I went for a surf yesterday [Wednesday], took my mind off it. It hasn't really sunk in. I guess probably tomorrow [Friday], when I have a bit of free time, and Saturday morning will probably be the big ones, but at the moment I'm feeling not too bad."

Hogan played all three NAB Challenge matches, and playing regular footy rather than spending extended periods in rehab has helped the Perth native settle in Melbourne after he considered returning to Western Australia at one stage.

"Obviously, when you're playing, you're up and about, the weeks fly by, and it's obviously a lot more enjoyable, so I guess playing makes it a lot easier to adapt and enjoy living away from home," he said.

Hogan has been no stranger to hype or comparisons with former and current greats of the game, particularly from his teammates and coach Paul Roos.

Captain Nathan Jones recently said Hogan reminded him of Brisbane's triple premiership legend Jonathan Brown.

Although he finds that kind of attention irksome, the pragmatic youngster attempts to take it all in his stride, rather than be unnerved.

"I think they've been a lot better, I think Roosy has been really good about it," Hogan said. "When I got to the club, there was a bit going on, [I was a] 17-year-old and I played a few [pre-season] games, but it's a hard one to avoid.

"You can ignore it as much as you possibly want to, but eventually you read something or you hear something and you try and avoid it, but what can you do?

"[Brown] didn't even have a touch in his first game. But honestly, it's an honour when people say that about me, but it's a bit unfortunate when a teammate says that and you're expected to do that.

"But they mean well, and you'd rather be compared to that than someone who's not playing or something like that ... it's a bit of confidence."