Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

[GVGjr]

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot IMO the reality is Dunkley wanted the club to take a stand with players behavior off-field and on field. It seems we have finally learnt that lesson, albeit too late to keep Dunkley.

Posters can say Dunkley wanted to be the highest paid player and the number one player at the club. I find that a hard pill to swallow as he left us to go to Brisbane and is playing the exact same role as, he did for us, and I hazard a guess on the same coin also.

The other aspect is as a club we are not resourced enough to handle complex characters such as Bailey Smith.

To succeed we need to be the best at identifying talent, identifying the right personality and developing that talent. That is where we should be spending huge chunks of the soft cap.

There are plenty of facts that supports the reasons you have outlined for Dunkley's departure but we have a few here who are chips in on solely focusing on the 'more money' option.
IMO they couldn't be more wrong and have locked on to the easy option which blames the player and doesn't question the clubs management.

It all starts back to the end of 2020 when Dunkley stepped away from the leadership group commitments. When he was appointed to the leadership group in 2019 he said:

“It’s exciting. For me personally, I like to lead by actions – I’m not really a loud talker as many of the boys would know,” Dunkley said.
“I like to lead by what I do on the field.
“I’m not going to change too much the way I go about things, and hopefully I can lead by example.

In 12 months that excitement clearly changed.

Ironically Hunter and Johannisen, who were also in the leadership group in 2020, weren't voted back in by the players for the 2021 season.

Dunkley requested a trade to Essendon but it didn't impact his performances when the club knocked it back and he continued to lead by example on and off the field..
In his final year with us he won our B&F and trained professionally throughout the season.

Sure some can blame the money aspect, which is the easy option that shields the club, but it's not the reason why he's now a Lion not a Bulldog.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I don't doubt the reasons at all why Dunkley left but wasn't Stringer at essendon when he requested a trade there? We forced Stringer out for behaviour issues so we weren't sitting idly by.

There are bad characters at all footy clubs. We've had our fair share of issues no doubt but I find it hard to believe it was the sole reason he left. If it was he must be pretty deluded thinking other clubs don't suffer the same issues. I'm not suggesting the other issues were money related at all.

Bailey Smith is a unique case. I was always a bit suss on him the moment he was drafted. Nothing about him suggested a bulldogs pick but even this level of narcissism I couldn't have foreseen.

[Bornadog]

I don't doubt the reasons at all why Dunkley left but wasn't Stringer at essendon when he requested a trade there? We forced Stringer out for behaviour issues so we weren't sitting idly by.

There are bad characters at all footy clubs. We've had our fair share of issues no doubt but I find it hard to believe it was the sole reason he left. If it was he must be pretty deluded thinking other clubs don't suffer the same issues. I'm not suggesting the other issues were money related at all.

Bailey Smith is a unique case. I was always a bit suss on him the moment he was drafted. Nothing about him suggested a bulldogs pick but even this level of narcissism I couldn't have foreseen.

Spot on. You must be of weak character if one player upsets you. Dunkley's Uncle said to me he wasn't happy about Lachie's behaviour - didn't mention any other player.

[Bigdog]

Always thought Dunkley wanted to be a captain. I wanted us to offer Dunkley a co-captaincy arrangement with Bont as part of his deal in 2022.

He was a huge loss. I believe he is the difference between us being a top 4 team presently.

Smith is a better player at Geelong than I thought he’d be. His ball use at the dogs was poor and I thought he was one way runner at stoppage when playing mid. I was always okay with him going so long as we received something substantial ion return which we didn’t.

[GVGjr]

I'm just done with all of this.
Dunkley
Smith
JUH

I know is super simplistic to put a rope around them all and say its all the same thing.. but at a high level it is all the same thing.
That's 2 very highly touted players - who chose to leave our club and hold us over a barrel and both will be playing off in a GF this year.. and we got sweet FA for them.
And now JUH is going, and some are talking about potentially giving up Sanders and more to lure Wilkie!

We are doormats. I'm not saying it's all our fault.. but I am saying we are doormats..and we will always be doormats that other clubs trample over unless we start flying the flag.
It makes me sick to my stomach that Dunkley and Smith have significantly improved their respective sides..whilst we sit on the fringes of the 8, just treading water.
And the one piece of luck that had fallen our way despite the baked in advantages the big club had, was our previous generation of Doggies players have produced a disproportionately high amount of top father/son recruits than other clubs. And of course the drums are beating now that they'll reign the Father/son rules in and we'll be denied that avenue.

I don't know what the answer is.. but I want to know my club is p1ssed at all of this.. And I do think the onus is on the club to explain to members why this isn't our fault. (I think a fair amount of it is)

How the heck we let Dunkley get out of contract when he'd wanted to leave the year prior for Essendon????! That is on us.
And Smith- man you could see that coming a mile away too.- We were unlucky he did his knee though.

JUH- yeah maybe not our fault - but wow it's gone from AFL is managing to all of a sudden 'we're keen to just get him off our books' this trade period.. another fire sale.. of epic proportions coming.

I'm fast running out of patience with the club to make a bloody stand, or at least speak to members about the inequity of how we are treated.. or are we too afraid of p1ssing off AFL house?

Perhaps it needs to be said.
Simplistically we failed Dunkley and that's on the club.
We were conned by Smith and by giving him a generous amount of time away from the club it helped create a monster that was buried within.
Now there is Marra, a player we considered trading at the end of last season which was knocked back by senior management and a player we bent over backwards for all of 2025.
Now we look like getting bugger all for him.

The trading compensation part for Dunkley and Smith was largely out of our hands so I don't think could have done much more. Marra has continually reduced his value for 12 months now.

Is it just bad luck or bad management or a combination of both?

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Perhaps it needs to be said.
Simplistically we failed Dunkley and that's on the club.
We were conned by Smith and by giving him a generous amount of time away from the club it helped create a monster that was buried within.
Now there is Marra, a player we considered trading at the end of last season which was knocked back by senior management and a player we bent over backwards for all of 2025.
Now we look like getting bugger all for him.

The trading compensation part for Dunkley and Smith was largely out of our hands so I don't think could have done much more. Marra has continually reduced his value for 12 months now.

Is it just bad luck or bad management or a combination of both?

A combination. It's really difficult to know because imagine the uproar if we traded JUH last season before all these issues became known? It's a bit damned if you do damned of you don't. Dunkley and Smith I think we were a bit naive in thinking they'd stay. Who here ever thought they'd stay 12 months out?

Why the players want to leave in the first place? All unique circumstances imo. We've also kept a lot of good players so it can't be all that bad. Just so hard to know without being inside the 4 walls but we can't deny Smith and JUH are unique circumstances that I don't know if any other club could have avoided. The Dunkley one annoys me the most but without knowing the specifics it's hard to comment.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Spot on. You must be of weak character if one player upsets you. Dunkley's Uncle said to me he wasn't happy about Lachie's behaviour - didn't mention any other player.

Leaving because of one player is pretty weak and looks flawed given he wanted to go to essendon where Stringer was. There just has to be more to it.

[ArsenalFC]

I think the evolution of trading players should also add in a clause which allows for a future pick or some compensation to a team losing the player. For instance, as we were told by every media outlet that Smith has no value yet Geelong only really wanted to give up minimum, if you were to re-value his "trade worth" off the back of this season, we were servely paid unders.

So, clubs should be allowed to add in a clause which states as an example

Smith for Pick 18 to Geelong, if Smith plays 15 games in year X, 2rd round Geelong pick to be provided to WB in year X.

Obviously the criteria could be anything but it allows for clubs losing players to add in performance base compensation.

[ledge]

I love the suns doing “due diligence” statement . Where have they been the last 12 months ?

[Bornadog]

I think the evolution of trading players should also add in a clause which allows for a future pick or some compensation to a team losing the player. For instance, as we were told by every media outlet that Smith has no value yet Geelong only really wanted to give up minimum, if you were to re-value his "trade worth" off the back of this season, we were servely paid unders.

So, clubs should be allowed to add in a clause which states as an example

Smith for Pick 18 to Geelong, if Smith plays 15 games in year X, 2rd round Geelong pick to be provided to WB in year X.

Obviously the criteria could be anything but it allows for clubs losing players to add in performance base compensation.

Smith and Macrae for Kennedy and Hynes. Kennedy has been a great addition, and Hynes looks promising. There was not much more we could do.

I hope Sammy Power can get a good deal on Marra, who as GVGjr says, he has diminished his value.

[Go_Dogs]

I am amazed posters seem happy to pay him out of his entire contract and let him go play for another club in 2026.

If the club does that this will be pissed off.

Pay him out sure, but make sure he is ineligible to play AFL footy in 2026.

I was definitely not saying pay out his entire contract, negotiate an outcome based on us releasing him and giving that freedom of choice.

[Jasper]

Spot on. You must be of weak character if one player upsets you. Dunkley's Uncle said to me he wasn't happy about Lachie's behaviour - didn't mention any other player.

You're very good at mining through what others write and grabbing on to the parts that suit you.
The point that you've intentionally missed is it's not because of one player but a lack of support from the coaches to address a wider issue with players who were not focused.
That has plagued us for a while and we've always been slow to address things over the last 10 years.

I understand that you're not open to exploring the facts with regards to Dunkley but at least stop questioning his character because he has proven that he made the right decision.
Jealous of Adz which you claim is speculative at best to justify your position bordering on manipulative.

[Uninformed]

Perhaps it needs to be said.
Simplistically we failed Dunkley and that's on the club.
We were conned by Smith and by giving him a generous amount of time away from the club it helped create a monster that was buried within.
Now there is Marra, a player we considered trading at the end of last season which was knocked back by senior management and a player we bent over backwards for all of 2025.
Now we look like getting bugger all for him.

The trading compensation part for Dunkley and Smith was largely out of our hands so I don't think could have done much more. Marra has continually reduced his value for 12 months now.

Is it just bad luck or bad management or a combination of both?

I was keen for us to trade Jamarra as soon as Darcy showed up and with the prospect of Croft. Mainly because of the extreme value and the hope of trading in more pressing needs. I wasn't aware there was that thinking at the club. I assume there must have been early signs of where Jamarra was heading, or at least the risk of that. Do you have any insights as to who at the club wanted to trade him and who wanted him kept?