Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

[Jeanette54]

Problem is he keeps standing up and talking about his future playing AFL but his actions tell you the opposite.

A work colleague once told me, "When the words and actions differ, believe the actions". It's a sad waste of elite talent and a gilt-edged lifetime opportunity.

[Aidan7557]

A work colleague once told me, "When the words and actions differ, believe the actions". It's a sad waste of elite talent and a gilt-edged lifetime opportunity.

Sums it up perfectly. Said this a couple times here but I genuinely think he is delusional about the situation. La La land stuff.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

He should be made to stand out for a season and that might be a genuine chance.
The AFL will obviously do what it can to get him back into footy asap but we do hold the cards from a contract perspective.

Surly everyone knows that he can play, he puts Bums on seats and is a role model for indigenous people.

So he ticks boxes for a lot of people and markets that the AFL are wanting to keep engaged.

it’s up to the AFL to get a deal done and get us some form of compensation as JUH sitting out another season will not benefit anyone

[Curly5]

I'm not sure but I've heard of some planning to position ourselves for a real dip at it.

It's concerning that so many are losing some faith.

I believe in Sam Power and his team. They work “vewy, vewy“ quietly, but get results.

[GVGjr]

Western Bulldogs will make a call on Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s future this week

The Western Bulldogs will make their call on Jamarra Ugle-Hagan early this week as his team seeks AFL ‘redemption.’ Plus, the star Dogs left in contract limbo.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan will have his Dogs exit interview early this week with his future uncertain but his management desperate for an AFL “redemption story”.
The Dogs finished their 2025 AFL season with the AFL side having missed finals but the Footscray team capping the year with a VFL premiership on Sunday.
Ugle-Hagan did not play a game at any level this season but is still contracted to the end of 2026 on a deal upwards of $800,000.
He will not be at the Dogs next year but they will have to progress through the trade period hopeful a rival might take him off their hands to relieve them of their contract obligations.

Sydney has been mentioned as a potential suitor but they would need to do extreme diligence on the former AFL star to ensure his recruitment did not backfire.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan future will be decided this
Ugle-Hagan said recently he was “lucky to be alive” after being missed by only a metre by a bullet when he was a witness at a nightclub shooting in the latest controversy over the No. 1 overall draft selection.

The Dogs could end up coming to terms on a negotiated settlement with Ugle-Hagan which would allow him to move on and even train with an AFL club over summer ahead of a SSP spot.
Other Dogs awaiting decisions on their future include Liam Jones, Jason Johannisen, Caleb Poulter, Anthony Scott, Nick Coffield and Oskar Baker.
Veteran defender Taylor Duryea retired with a VFL premiership on Sunday after two AFL flags with Hawthorn in a decorated AFL career.
The Herald Sun revealed last week that Adam Treloar would win a new deal, with the former Pie playing a superb finals series in the VFL after six calf tears across the season.
Full back Jones wants to play on at the Dogs or elsewhere while Johannisen is also desperate to play on after 16 senior games this year.

Coach Luke Beveridge said recently Ugle-Hagan needed a “fresh start” and said he couldn’t say “definitively whether it be here or somewhere else”.

Paul Connors is part of the management stable that represents Ugle-Hagan and said last week he was hopeful Ugle-Hagan could work his way back to AFL football.
“I hope so, it will be a great story, we love a redemption story,” he told the 200 Plus Podcast.
“We’re just barracking for it, I’ve got no breaking news other than it would be great to see him play footy next year.
“He looks fit, he’s got an appetite for training, he loves training (and) he trains hard. More Coverage

“I think he can still play, so it’s just if someone is going to give him an opportunity. You might have to go 10 steps back to go 20 forward but let’s see.
“I am nearly like you guys just watching and barracking, Robbie (D’Orazio) has done a great job (helping him).
“The game is hard too. Every story is different but the Giants took a great leap of faith with Jesse Hogan and he turned out to be All Australian. We love a redemption story so that’s what I am barracking for.”

[Go_Dogs]

Seems the most definitive article he won’t be with us in 2026. While it’s hard to let such a talented player go without compensation, and having to do a payout, it seems like the smartest way forward.

[Grantysghost]

Negotiated settlement is interesting wording.
To me that's a contract exit and payout.
So I doubt on that instance we expect any on field compensation in picks.

[chef]

Yeah, sounds like a shit sandwich for us coming up.

He gets to play and we get no compo. I think I'd rather burn his wage and make him sit out another season. Can't keep letting players and clubs walk all over us.

[my plums]

This sucks

[azabob]

Yeah, sounds like a shit sandwich for us coming up.

He gets to play and we get no compo. I think I'd rather burn his wage and make him sit out another season. Can't keep letting players and clubs walk all over us.

Yep. I'm on this wavelength as well.

I could not stand us paying him out and then watch him run around for another team in 2026.

[Sedat]

He gets to play and we get no compo. I think I'd rather burn his wage and make him sit out another season. Can't keep letting players and clubs walk all over us.

That sounds fine on paper but in reality 2026 is Bevo's last year to save his job - he needs the JUH story hanging around the club for another 12 months like a hole in the head. The players have had enough of the distraction as well, and rightly so.

It's gone way past JUH promising to change his ways in the off season - he had his chance mid this year for redemption and he wasn't up to the task/wasn't interested in doing even the most the basic level of work required to actually earn the money he made this year. As disrespect goes, it doesn't get much more blatant than that. Talk is incredibly cheap, action and behaviour is all that matters.

If there was a world in which we ensured he could not play anywhere next season, we paid him out and he was kept away from the club, I'd sign on for that. But the AFEL will not let anything like that happen. Right now, I'm just thankful that we exercised some discretion with the length of tenure of his last contract with us - it could easily have been a multi-year disaster of epic proportions with the way he was tracking at the time of his contract renewal.

[chef]

That sounds fine on paper but in reality 2026 is Bevo's last year to save his job - he needs the JUH story hanging around the club for another 12 months like a hole in the head. The players have had enough of the distraction as well, and rightly so.

It's gone way past JUH promising to change his ways in the off season - he had his chance mid this year for redemption and he wasn't up to the task/wasn't interested in doing the basic level of work required to actually earn the money he made this year. As disrespect goes, it doesn't get much more blatant than that. Talk is incredibly cheap, action and behaviour is all that matters.

If there was a world in which we ensured he could not play anywhere next season, we paid him out and he was kept away from the club, I'd sign on for that. But the AFEL will not let anything like that happen. Right now, I'm just thankful that we exercised some discretion with the length of tenure of his last contract with us - it could easily have been a multi-year disaster of epic proportions with the way he was tracking at the time of his contract renewal.

It's not like he'll be around the club anyway to be a distraction(don't think it effected the players this season) and if we tell the world what we are doing from the start there'll be no media storm

[Sedat]

It's not like he'll be around the club anyway to be a distraction(don't think it effected the players this season) and if we tell the world what we are doing from the start there'll be no media storm

The media actually played nice with this story in 2025 - I don't think they will show the same discretion in 2026 if we start to play bad cop on JUH's contract.

I reckon the absolute best case scenario for our club is to ship JUH off to Sydney for minimum chips (future 3rd or something like that) with Sydney picking up 100% of the tab in 2026. It would show good faith by us and it gets a lot of money off the books that has been otherwise sitting idly (or residing in questionable night clubs at 3am) for 12 months. Whether we like it or not, we have to work with Connors/D'Orazio ongoing, so we can't be seen to be overly heavy-handed in this scenario (which we haven't all the way through - our club could not have managed a very difficult situation any better from a PR perspective so far)

[hujsh]

The Dogs could end up coming to terms on a negotiated settlement with Ugle-Hagan which would allow him to move on and even train with an AFL club over summer ahead of a SSP spot.

Excuse me?

[ledge]

I think the only way the AFL let him play next year is if stays with us or we trade him .
otherwise he misses next year and he doesn’t get paid .
If the AFL let him get away with any other way it opens up a can of worms for the future .