Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

[hujsh]

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” Steve Jobs.

Ironic coming from someone who didn't actually build anything himself, but he did have a good view of talented people who did work hard and made a lot of money off them

[Aidan7557]

I really wonder what is going on in Ugle-Hagan's head. Is it really possible he can be so easily influenced by others around him to quit his job as an elite athlete and throw away a one in a million opportunity? I know he is getting a nice pay check to essentially do nothing now but that obviously isn't sustainable forever. It just seems so hard to believe with all the support he is getting that he could so easily throw away career a lot of us dream of. Just getting sadder every week that goes by. Anyone else have similar thoughts?

[FlemingMutt]

The club i think needs to make a stand here and not pay the bloke or give him enough to cover his basic living expenses. I am all for helping out players going through personal issues such as depression, family breakdowns etc however Jamarra is clearly taking the piss. This is a football club where alot of members pay their hard earned money to pay some of this guys wages and he is throwing it in their face. What a poor look. He is getting paid to to perform about 10% of his responsibilities. I have never seen a footy player take a club for a ride as much as this guy has.

[GVGjr]

I really wonder what is going on in Ugle-Hagan's head. Is it really possible he can be so easily influenced by others around him to quit his job as an elite athlete and throw away a one in a million opportunity? I know he is getting a nice pay check to essentially do nothing now but that obviously isn't sustainable forever. It just seems so hard to believe with all the support he is getting that he could so easily throw away career a lot of us dream of. Just getting sadder every week that goes by. Anyone else have similar thoughts?

There are a lot of people getting well paid to do nothing so that shouldn't be the frustrating part in all this.
At the moment, and for whatever reason, he is struggling to commit to the requirements of a professional athlete.
Not many of us know the exact reasons for it but we need to just give it space and if he somehow turns things around it could be a nice bonus.
It's a waiting game.

[GVGjr]

The club i think needs to make a stand here and not pay the bloke or give him enough to cover his basic living expenses. I am all for helping out players going through personal issues such as depression, family breakdowns etc however Jamarra is clearly taking the piss. This is a football club where alot of members pay their hard earned money to pay some of this guys wages and he is throwing it in their face. What a poor look. He is getting paid to to perform about 10% of his responsibilities. I have never seen a footy player take a club for a ride as much as this guy has.

Well we can't do that. The contract is the contract unless he does something really silly and that is very unlikely.
We are in a support and care phase with him and taking money away isn't an option or an answer.
While It's very frustrating, the club is working with Marra in line with the best advice available.

[josie]

The club i think needs to make a stand here and not pay the bloke or give him enough to cover his basic living expenses. I am all for helping out players going through personal issues such as depression, family breakdowns etc however Jamarra is clearly taking the piss. This is a football club where alot of members pay their hard earned money to pay some of this guys wages and he is throwing it in their face. What a poor look. He is getting paid to to perform about 10% of his responsibilities. I have never seen a footy player take a club for a ride as much as this guy has.

I really empathise with your thoughts & part of me agrees. The pragmatist in me asks what is in best interests of club and Marra and (again with none of us outside the club knowing what’s really going on ) for now I’d say the club is following the best path.

I’d also add the things I’m hearing about (Marra posting photos of him & mates at pubs) might be a symptom of his malaise and does not negate the possibility he is suffering from mental health challenges. Some folks are very quick to put 2 & 2 together and make 5. Totally different matter I know but 90% Australians thought Lindy not a dingo took her baby. The court of public perception can be very wrong.

[jeemak]

I genuinely feel we're being played by JUH and his management here, and that doesn't discount him being uncommitted to us at this point in time or being uncommitted to his career.

This absolutely stinks, and I think a deal has been done to get him elsewhere on bigger bucks than the second year of his contract will deliver for modest draft capital. We're not talking six weeks of bullshit at this point, we're talking six months. If something is quacking like a duck, waddling like a duck, then it's probably whatever quacks and waddles like a duck.

Terminate his contract, cut him loose. Send a message we aren't on the table to be ****ed with like we were with Bailey Smith. The similarities can't be ignored.

If that's not the case, terminate his contract and offer all support ongoing for the duration of his contract plus a nominal amount and let him find his way in life without being an AFL footballer. It's time to cut the cord.

After the cord is cut, we can offer every single service and resource he's taking up right now. We can deliver the same amount of care he's receiving and more, but at way less cost to an organisation that can't afford to be in the charity business given we're being held to a higher level of account on child molestation than the Catholic Church and our very existence is at risk.

This is bad business and we're going to pay for it dearly. And before anyone gets into me, I am considering what's best for JUH at this point as well, he can be tabloid fodder without the pressure to keep playing, but with the support the AFL can deliver. At the moment he's eating shit on all fronts.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I genuinely feel we're being played by JUH and his management here

Send a message we aren't on the table to be ****ed with like we were with Bailey Smith.

Sadly I think we've already sent a message we are here to be ****ed with when we let Dunkley and Smith go cheaply.

We're too nice of a club and it shows on the field as well. I get it's a difficult position for the club to be in though. Damned if you do damned if you don't but player agents probably leverage our generosity to get easy deals done. We've seen it one too many times for some of our most elite players and a few on here were getting ready for it with JUH last year. It wouldnt surprise me in the slightest if he went cheaply to a other club.

[Bornadog]

Sadly I think we've already sent a message we are here to be ****ed with when we let Dunkley and Smith go cheaply.

Sorry but I cannot agree with this.

I keep hearing this about letting these guys go cheaply, but what choice does a club have if the player wants to go to a club that just doesn't have the picks, ie a top four club like Brisbane or Geelong.

I am sure if the player picked West Coast, or Richmond, or North we can negotiate an early round pick. To say we are easy to deal with, is just rubbish

[Sedat]

I am sure if the player picked West Coast, or Richmond, or North we can negotiate an early round pick.

Of course JUH is going to nominate a contending team that will have greatly diminished draft capital. That is how the free (and pre) agency system works - nobody wants to go to woefully unsuccessful clubs.

[Bornadog]

Of course JUH is going to nominate a contending team that will have greatly diminished draft capital. That is how the free (and pre) agency system works - nobody wants to go to woefully unsuccessful clubs.

Excatly, and then we will have supporters crying we have been done over.

[mjp]

Sadly I think we've already sent a message we are here to be ****ed with when we let Dunkley and Smith go cheaply.

I think your comments about being "too nice" are a bit broad but generally agree...

But I think the situations with Smith and Dunkley were due to the way the AFL trade period works than anything else:

- Both were out of contract.
- Both nominated clubs with limited draft capital available.

With Brisbane, my recollection is that they traded away a pick that would have been 'around the mark' for any proposed Dunkley trade...with Smith, I'm not sure exactly what Geelong were supposed to do? They can't trade picks they don't have...I mean, the whole "Well - Go and get them then...." idea is always there but that means effectively engaging 3 or 4 clubs in a single trade which is the stuff of Trade Radio not real life.

I guess Dunkley would probably say (Brisbane situation) "The club played hardball with me when I wanted to go to Essendon so why should I do them any favours this time around"....well, he wouldn't be wrong.

Smith clearly signalled his intent and was never the same player post drug story...it's funny as at the time the club was generally praised for the way it handled a difficult issue but obviously something about the whole ordeal really impacted Smith and you can pretty much trace everything that has happened 'since' to the Herald Sun pictures...

There seems to be a sentiment to 'Get them to sign or trade them early'...of course, that would mean we would have traded Bont and Richards at the end of last year...is everyone who thinks this way really sure about this as a strategy given what it implies about our current list?

Could the list management team have done things better? I mean, who knows? But with the exception of just sending Dunks and Smith to the PSD with no compensation I'm really not sure what the other options were...just be happy we are able to select quality players in the draft because otherwise they would just be cycling out after 3-years and zero games...then we would be West Coast!

[doggies ftw]

I genuinely feel we're being played by JUH and his management here, and that doesn't discount him being uncommitted to us at this point in time or being uncommitted to his career.

This absolutely stinks, and I think a deal has been done to get him elsewhere on bigger bucks than the second year of his contract will deliver for modest draft capital. We're not talking six weeks of bullshit at this point, we're talking six months. If something is quacking like a duck, waddling like a duck, then it's probably whatever quacks and waddles like a duck.

Terminate his contract, cut him loose. Send a message we aren't on the table to be ****ed with like we were with Bailey Smith. The similarities can't be ignored.

If that's not the case, terminate his contract and offer all support ongoing for the duration of his contract plus a nominal amount and let him find his way in life without being an AFL footballer. It's time to cut the cord.

After the cord is cut, we can offer every single service and resource he's taking up right now. We can deliver the same amount of care he's receiving and more, but at way less cost to an organisation that can't afford to be in the charity business given we're being held to a higher level of account on child molestation than the Catholic Church and our very existence is at risk.

This is bad business and we're going to pay for it dearly. And before anyone gets into me, I am considering what's best for JUH at this point as well, he can be tabloid fodder without the pressure to keep playing, but with the support the AFL can deliver. At the moment he's eating shit on all fronts.

This just makes zero sense lol, I’ve seen this argument so often but in what world is it a good career move to tank your value, completely lose respect of the public and throw away your most important development years. No this is no ploy from his management.

You do realise he signed last year right? Why would he if he wanted out so bad he was going to go scorched earth on the club less 3-4 months later. If he wanted out he’d continue on the trajectory he was on and ask for a trade and get offers of 1.5mil plus. On his current path he’ll be lucky to be on half of that - if anything at all - there’s just no universe in which this is a deliberate ploy to ‘tank’ his value, when has that ever happened?

[Scott2016]

There is only one way to manage this from the clubs point of view. If Bont's signature is going to be influenced by what the club does or doesnt do, then focus on that and we all should accept it. If the club does what Bont doesnt want and we lose him then all this talk about Jamarra is a waste of energy. If Bont wants Jamarra to go and we get pick 66 its time to move on.

[ledge]

I tend to think he won’t play AFL again he isn’t interested. He hasn’t got the passion to train or play .
Maybe he will change as he gets older but at the moment i wouldn’t hold my breath.
Who would touch him unless he is taken as a Fill in . He would have to start in the VFL and play nearly the whole season to prove himself . He struggles to train let alone play at the top level now . If a club did take him we would get bugger all in return.