EXCITING young key forward Jesse Hogan will be given a breather this weekend after playing in Melbourne’s five pre-season matches this year.

Hogan played against North Melbourne, Richmond, Port Adelaide and St Kilda in the NAB Cup and in last week’s practice match against Gold Coast Suns.

But elite performance manager Dave Misson confirmed Hogan would return to his native Western Australia as part of his program. Hogan will not be eligible to play for Melbourne again until next year’s NAB Cup, when he is officially on the club’s list in 2014.

“He’s played every game and he’s played pretty big minutes,” Misson told melbournefc.com.au.

“It was always part of his plan to send him home to Perth. He’s on a recovery week back there and he’ll be back here for next week.

“But we’re rapt with the way Jesse has played in the pre-season.”

Football manager Josh Mahoney said Hogan would be managed carefully throughout 2013.

"We see this as a bonus year for Jesse. He is able to complete all the training at AFL standard and spend the year adapting to the standards and workload expected,” he said.

“Throughout the year we have planned breaks, recognising that he is still young and we have 12 months to set Jesse up for a long career at Melbourne,” Mahoney said.

Misson said players who have had interrupted NAB Cup campaigns and younger Demons will play for Casey this weekend.

“We could have eight to 10 players down there this week, depending on AFL approval,” he said.

“So it’s going to be good to see some of the guys who haven’t played a lot [in the pre-season] get out there and show their stuff.”

Misson said co-captain Jack Trengove and Clark “should” play for Casey in a VFL practice match this weekend.

“It’s the next progression in their rehab stage. We’re really happy that they’re going to be out there playing. There’s no guarantee that they’re going to play round one,” he said.

“It’s right at the end stage [of their rehab], so we’re looking forward to seeing them out there.”

Father/son selection Jack Viney is also likely to play this weekend, but young Demons Sam Blease and Tom McDonald will be “touch and go”.

“He (Viney) just missed out on last week. He just wasn’t quite there, but he should front up for Casey,” Misson said.

“I would think that they’d (Blease and McDonald) be definitely available for round one, but one or both of them could play for Casey next week.”

But leader James Frawley, who missed last weekend’s clash against the Suns, will not play for Casey.

“He was never going to play this week, because he’s played a fair bit during the NAB Cup – he woke up crook on Saturday morning,” he said.

“With the conditions up there, the heat and humidity, we just didn’t want to put him at risk for an extended illness, so we decided not to play him.”

Misson said the club was being “reasonably cautious” with Dawes, while runner Rohan Bail and ruckman Max Gawn were still a few weeks away.

“We’re just conscious of getting a fair bit of work into him (Dawes). His was a soft-tissue … so we’re just working through the rehab stages there, but he’s going really well and we’d expect him to be available next week,” he said.

“Ro is essentially almost ready to join the main group and be exposed to contact training, after that concussion. He’s probably two or three weeks away from playing.”

“Gawny is probably a bit similar, maybe a bit less. Gawny is in full training now and it’s just getting some training miles into his legs.”