Latest news with #Jamarra
Herald Sun
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Herald Sun
AFL news 2025: Jamarra Ugle-Hagan takes leave of absence from Bulldogs
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News. Western Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan may have played his last game for the Dogs after taking a personal leave of absence from the club. Any faint hopes the gun forward could make a return to the top level this year appear almost certainly over after a decision to fully focus on his personal issues. The club confirmed on Tuesday Ugle-Hagan and his family had reached the decision to step away after a series of meetings with Dogs' staff and AFL officials. It allows the 23-year-old to concentrate on his health, while the call will also help eliminate any distractions for the team as the eighth-placed Dogs attempt to make a deep run in September. However, the man who booted 43 goals last season will continue to be paid his $800,000-a-year salary after signing a bumper contract extension in 2024. The club said in a statement on Tuesday an AFL-backed 'management plan' had been arranged for Ugle-Hagan who has barely trained at Whitten Oval since the end of last season. 'Jamarra's health and wellbeing remains the absolute priority and he will be given whatever time he needs,' football boss Sam Power said. 'We will continue to support Jamarra throughout this period.' The decision will be embraced by Dogs' players and coaching staff who want Ugle-Hagan to receive the support he needs to overcome his complex issues. It is unclear when or if Ugle-Hagan will return to the club. As the Herald Sun revealed on Saturday, significant frustrations had mounted over the situation, with coach Luke Beveridge saying he was unsure if Ugle-Hagan wanted to play again at AFL level. 'He will tell you he does, but the actions don't back the words up,' Beveridge told the Herald Sun. 'It is going to take a lot of time to build trust again with everyone. 'The thing about compliance and punctuality and being in a program you have to be there. 'You can't choose which days you don't come.' Ugle-Hagan has not trained at the club over the past three weeks and was seen arriving late to a session earlier in the season in an awkward scene for teammates. Ugle-Hagan will almost certainly explore a trade at season's end, although the Dogs' hopes of receiving decent compensation in any exchange have seriously diminished. It is a blow for the club which also lost scintillating midfielder Bailey Smith (Geelong) and Jack Macrae (St Kilda) in a deal for pick 17 and former Blues' midfielder Matt Kennedy last year. Ugle-Hagan could pursue a fresh start interstate next year with Sydney Swans considered a possible landing spot in a trade for a late draft pick. But rival clubs are unsure if Ugle-Hagan has a future at the top level at all as he continues to work through his personal issues. The man from Framlingham, near Warrnambool, is contracted to the Bulldogs until the end of next season, and spent time in Perth earlier this year with the Indigenous All-Stars team. He has continued to post videos of his off-site gym workouts to social media as part of his flexible training arrangement which was announced by the club in January. KANE: WE WANT TO SEE JAMARRA PLAY FOOTY AGAIN - Lauren Wood AFL football boss Laura Kane says 'there is' a path back to football for embattled former No. 1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan. The Western Bulldogs revealed on Tuesday evening that Ugle-Hagan would be allowed an indefinite period of leave as he continues to navigate personal issues, with a 'management model' in place for the Victorian forward. The AFL is also involved in assisting Ugle-Hagan, with Kane saying she believed that more time away from the game was the right move. 'We've seen working with Jamarra and the Bulldogs, Jamarra's management and his family and really, clearly, yesterday's statement said that a management plan is in place, and I won't go into the details of what that looks like,' Kane said on Wednesday. 'It's personal to Jamarra, but we want him to work through the challenges that he has, and if he wants to, we want him to play footy and have a long career. 'Dr Kate Hall leads our mental health and wellbeing team, and if there are resources available to players that we can provide then, then we're really happy to do that. 'Thereis (a path back to football for him).Andwewanttomakesurehe'sareallygreatkidandareallygoodplayer,andifhecannavigatehischallenges,thenwe'dlovetoseehimonafootyfieldagain.' Ugle-Hagan is training away from the club having not played this season. 'The appropriate step at the moment is that Jamarra looks after his wellbeing, and that he gets into a position personally where he can train and play if he wants to,' Kane said on SEN. 'And so how he does that, I think, is personal to him and that's why we were pleased that we could all come together to create a plan for him that we hope works.' Bevo concedes: When Jamarra drama will 'come to a head'
ABC News
30-04-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Coaching great says AFL players are 'all human beings' with complexities outside footy
Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos has called on the AFL world to give Western Bulldogs star forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan some space to breathe in light of him taking time away from the club. "Let's give him some breathing space, and let's just treat him as a human being for the next X amount of months, not Jamarra the footballer. Jamarra the human being," Roos said on ABC AFL Daily. "Let's give the young man some time to breathe." Photo shows Jamrra Ugle-Hagan walks off the ground Jamarra Ugle-Hagan takes a leave of absence from the Western Bulldogs as he deals with personal issues. The comments come off the back of former No.1 draft pick Ugle-Hagan taking an indefinite period of leave from the Bulldogs and his AFL career for personal reasons. Ugle-Hagan has not played a game at any level this year and only trained sporadically with the Bulldogs. As part of his medical management plan he was to step away from Whitten Oval entirely while his playing career is put on hold. Bulldogs' football manager Sam Power said "Jamarra's health and wellbeing remains the absolute priority" and "he will be given whatever time he needs". "We will continue to support Jamarra throughout this period." he said via a club statement. Roos said it was hard for fans to comprehend the whole situation because they never know what's truly going on with players. "But they're all human beings. They all have families, they all have other problems. They all have complexities outside (footy) to varying degrees," Roos said. "Some of the conversations that coaches will have with players, you'd be staggered." Coaching great Paul Roos says fans never really know what's going on with player's lives. ( Getty Images: Daniel Pockett ) McKay said he felt like he had to "put on a bit of a facade to pretend to be OK when I really wasn't". "And that was really hard," McKay said on the Ben and Harry podcast. "Especially as someone, as you'd know, as a male and as someone who would hang their hat on always turning up, being stoic, pushing through … but I had to put my hand up and say I needed some help." Loading Twitter content Roos added that despite some players having talent in spades, the desire to play AFL isn't there. "When you're talking about players health, we don't know exactly what's happened. So it's really hard to talk about," Roos said. "But what I will say, this is not just for Jamarra … I'm trying to generalise here … Not everyone wants to play football, and I know that surprises everyone. "Everyone sort of thinks, 'Oh, geez, you know. Must be so exciting.' Yeah, it is. But I've coached players that got drafted because they were so talented and they just didn't really want to play." He said while many people live and die by the game — including players, fans and media — some people just don't want to play the game. "I'm taking the Jamara out of that for a minute, (and) I'm just trying to give people an understanding that this is not unusual, in a broad sense. There's just simply players that don't really want to play the game, it doesn't suit them." Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is a former No.1 draft pick but he stepped away from his playing career from an indefinite period. ( Getty Images: Darrian Traynor ) Roos said without knowing Ugle-Hagan's particular situation, his actions suggest he doesn't want to play AFL football, and that's ok. "What I'm saying to everyone is, that's okay. That is okay. Let him go and sort himself out with the help of the Bulldogs," he said. "AFL is really important. I spent 40 years in it, but it's not that important. It's hard to tell supporters and I know how emotional I get … But in the context of life, it is not that important." After reporters waited outside the club to see if Ugle-Hagan attended training — while he was on his modified program — and media would comb through his social media, Roos said removing himself from the football space for a while was probably the best call. It would, he hoped, give the young player a breather from the intensity of the footy world. ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that's making headlines. The ABC of SPORT Sports content to make you think... or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered each Saturday. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe
Herald Sun
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Herald Sun
AFL news 2025: Jamarra Ugle-Hagan inside story Bulldogs
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News. There were fleeting moments over the past month where the 'old Jamarra' was seen on the training track. He put two weeks of training together in the lead-up to Gather Round which gave everyone hope. But then when his teammates flew to Adelaide to play, he was told the remaining players had to do a compulsory training session on the Saturday morning. It was a test and Ugle-Hagan failed badly. He didn't show up with his Instagram account once again suggesting he was out on the town enjoying himself which for many was the straw which broke the camel's back. Fast forward to Tuesday's press release that Ugle-Hagan was taking a leave of absence and sadly it will hardly register a blimp on his teammates' radar. Coach Luke Beveridge and his lieutenants have been treating the whole situation with Ugle-Hagan like he has a long-term knee injury since the start of the season. They knew what had gone on in the previous six months and realised they had to put all their eggs into the coming season without the star forward. While his teammates held out some hope initially, they had grown more and more frustrated with his non-appearances to the point in recent weeks where the leadership group decided they were ready to move on. These feelings were voiced strongly to the Bulldogs management with Ugle-Hagan becoming a distraction they no longer wanted to have around. And they knew an extension of that was the fact they most likely wouldn't get the chance to play with him again. That's incredibly sad because the Dogs have emerged as an unlikely premiership contender given the football they've produced in the opening seven weeks despite having key personnel missing. It would take an extraordinary turnaround for Ugle-Hagan to prove to those that matter at the Whitten Oval that he can engage again. Those who have the glass half-full approach to the saga say the official acknowledgement of absence is a good day and potentially a major turning point. Rather than live in the grey which everyone had been, waiting to see if he'd turn up at training or attend a game with his teammates, there is now black and white. He won't be at training and he won't be at games because he is officially on leave, the same as in any profession. There is no longer any pressure on him, or more importantly on Dogs officials, to constantly be providing updates or, more to the point, hosing down speculation about his after-dark activities. One of the major problems in the scenario was Ugle-Hagan's belief that he could rock up, train for a couple of weeks and then walk back into the senior team. As his daily Instagram posts show, keeping in shape hasn't been an issue with 4.30am gym sessions documented. But finally the penny may have dropped that the lifestyle he was leading wasn't conducive to playing AFL football. Cruising around Chapel St on a Friday and Saturday nights just doesn't cut it for a professional athlete. While there are always going to be some cynics about the mental health card, there is hope Ugle-Hagan now understands it's up to him to sort his life out and that requires him removing himself from the AFL bubble. There have been many conspiracy theories thrown around about what his playing future looks like, that the former No. 1 draft pick has been told by Sydney to not play this year and then head to the Harbour City in a trade for a couple of forgettable mid-round draft picks. It's not going to be that simple. While the 23-year-old is most likely finished at the Bulldogs, there are plenty of hoops he will have to jump through before the league deems him mentally fit to continue his career. That's a long way down the track and it could be a road that never gets used but at least now the Western Bulldogs have some peace. And hopefully Jamarra Ugle-Hagan finds his own peace. Bevo concedes: When Jamarra drama will 'come to a head'
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The hidden costs behind Jamarra Ugle-Hagan's absence, as Dogs 'despair' over star's future
The hidden cost behind Jamarra Ugle-Hagan's saga with the Western Bulldogs has reportedly come to light after claims were made that his club were 'despairing' over his future. Footy reporter, Jon Ralph, has claimed that even in his absence from the footy club, the 23-year-old star, who was snapped up as a No 1 pick in the 2020 National Draft, is set to keep his roughly $800,000 salary. The footy star is yet to feature for the side this season, having also been training on a flexible basis as he works his way through several personal problems. No time frame has been given on when he could return, though he has been pictured training with his team-mates in recent weeks. Uncertainty has also been growing over whether he could leave the footy club this year. But as Ralph writes in the Herald Sun, AFL Player Association (AFLPA) rules relating to player contracts provide protection to the key forward's reported $800k contract. The reporter adds, though, that the Bulldogs are keen to sit down with the AFLPA over whether he could continue to receive his salary in full. Both the footy club and members of the AFL's welfare teams have sought to help the footy star through the ongoing issue and according to Ralph, there is hope from within the club that the issue won't end in Ugle-Hagan being docked his salary or being forced into a long-term absence. 'They'd have to tell Jamarra: "You're not the part-time footballer right now with a flexible arrangement. You're a full-time football — you come to every recovery session, every training session and every planning session. If you don't do that, we doc your pay",' Ralph said to Fox Footy's Midweek Tackle. 'I think it's less likely, but they're looking for a light bulb moment there. He's had a good couple of days, but let's face it, he's only had a good couple of days for the last six weeks — and very few of them over the last six months. 'I think it's coming to a head. Jamarra needs to change and he's not prepared to do that right now.' With Sam Darcy set to be ruled out due to an ACL injury, Luke Beveridge is having to get creative with his forward line but his immediate fix will not include Ugle-Hagan. The 23-year-old was the Dogs top scorer last season, booting 43 majors but last week, Beveridge told reporters that the youngster's future was in the hands of the AFL. Meanwhile, News Corp's Scott Gullan has added that the Bulldog's have left a 'black hole' in their roster, by using six draft picks to arrange a bid for the 23-year-old No 1 pick during the 2020 Draft. 'This is something the Dogs have been thinking about and discussing internally. If this continues to go south and Jamarra doesn't play again for the Dogs, at least this year, it's wiped out the whole 2020 draft,' he added on Fox's Midweek Tackle. "I'm starting to feel for the Western Bulldogs and I'm disappointed for them." In light of the Jamarra Ugle-Hagan saga, Matthew Lloyd wonders whether there should be an extra clause to terminate contracts in special circumstances. #9FootyClassified | Watch on Nine & 9Now 🖥️ — Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) April 21, 2025 'The Dogs spent all year getting draft picks, they had six draft picks they had to compile that got enough points. 'If they didn't have to do that, they have all those picks — valued from Pick 26 to Pick 50. In that range there's players like Beau McCreery, Shannon Neale, Ollie Lord, Corey Durdin and Nathan O'Driscoll. 'So the Dogs have got this gap in their list because they put all the eggs in the Jamarra basket. It made so much sense and we understood it, but the system meant they had to give all this up. 'So now they're looking back going: "If Jamarra doesn't play for us again, we only had one other pick in that draft and he's already been delisted". 'There's a complete black hole and now they might even lose Jamarra as well. It's hurting them big time and is going to keep hurting them.' It comes as St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt has criticised Ugle-Hagan after the footy star had published pictures and videos of himself partying on social media. 'There can be real reasons, legitimate reasons, but when you're behaving the way that Jamarra is you forfeit all rights,' Riewoldt said on Channel Seven. 'This is the issue, there is no mechanism for clubs to be protected. 'Not just the clubs but the players you're teammates with that are actually fronting up day after day doing the work for the cause, and you've got a teammate that is not buying in and is still taking five or six, seven per cent of the salary cap with no recourse from the football clubs.' Matthew Lloyd has also claimed that he is beginning to feel sympathetic towards the Bulldogs over the saga. 'You'd think to yourself: "We've got Norton, Darcy and Ugle-Hagan." So you'd think we've got good cover,' Lloyd told Channel 9. 'No Weightman as well. You understand Weightman and Darcy but [on Ugle-Hagan] it's so disappointing - obviously, mental health is a big thing. 'I feel for the Western Bulldogs, Damo, for the fact that to hear a coach say he trains sometimes, then we don't see him. I'm starting to feel for the Western Bulldogs and say I'm disappointed for them. 'You can sense that he's never going to play for the Western Bulldogs ever again. 'It had me thinking, can the clubs cover themselves in the future and have a clause inserted that says: "You're using it to a point that is benefitting you and it goes past just mental health." 'Can you terminate or have the ability to in the future?' If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 24 at any time of the day, seven days a week for anonymous support and guidance.
