Jon Ralph: Jamarra Ugle-Hagan will get a second chance after he leaves Bulldogs, but not on his terms

It looks increasingly likely that Jamarra Ugle-Hagan will leave the Western Bulldogs. But instead of considering $15 million offers, his second chance may not be on his own terms.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan should be looking at $15 million contracts right now to make him one of the richest players in AFL history.

Instead he should heed the example of four-time best-and-fairest winner Jack Steven to witness how quickly fame and fortune can vanish in the AFL.

As Ugle-Hagan’s relationship with the Dogs reaches rock bottom he is now prohibitively long odds to ever play with this team again.

The lesson learnt from over 100 years of AFL football is that no one will ever give up on talent.

No matter how often a player self-sabotages their career or tries to fritter away their talent if an iota of what made them great remains a club will take a chance on them.

But those clubs will do so on their own terms.

It should not have gone unnoticed that in the same week that Ugle-Hagan’s struggles reached a new point of crisis, Chris Scott was making clear the club was happy to have “dangerous conversations”.

The Herald Sun revealed last month that the Cats were interested in Ugle-Hagan but earlier in the season Ugle-Hagan seemed at least to be making minor progress in his path towards VFL football.

Now Ugle-Hagan is adrift again, as the Dogs and those trying to help him consider whether it is best for him to step away from the club for an indefinite break.

The Dogs are not interested in cutting a deal for his 2026 contract even though it might save them some of the $800,000 plus on his deal next season.

Instead they would allow him to work on his significant issues away from the club in a manner that allowed them to sidestep the daily distractions that the Jamarra circus provides.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has been absent from the Bulldogs. Picture: Michael Klein

If he did attempt to cut ties with the Dogs at year’s end – despite a contract for 2026 – there would still be no shortage of suitors.

The issue for him is at what price.

Geelong took a punt on Tyson Stengle and turned him into an All Australian and premiership player.

They also traded for St Kilda best-and-fairest winner Jack Steven despite a year in which he took indefinite leave for mental health issues.

Early on in his single year in Geelong he was stabbed by someone known to him, played seven games and was gone from the AFL landscape by year’s end.

He should still be rightfully proud of his 192-game AFL career, but the manner in which it can go so quickly is a reminder to Ugle-Hagan of the precious nature of AFL football.

So Ugle-Hagan will get chances, but they might no longer be on his own terms.

Steven was traded for pick 58 and a modest deal despite being a St Kilda star.

Ben Cousins was picked up by Richmond with pick 6 in the pre-season draft when no other club would consider him.

So those clubs would still see Ugle-Hagan as a restoration project, but potentially for a throwaway pick and a throwaway price.

This time last year he was being offered “lifetime deals” by rivals – two years to free agency and then eight or nine years on top of that.

He re-signed to 2026 to consider his long-term options.

If he had continued his upwards progress after three strong seasons – 18 goals, then 35, then 43 – the Dogs would have done anything to re-sign him this year ahead of time.

Now if they did allow him to move away from Whitten Oval for the rest of the season it would open up a whole range of questions that do not have easy answers.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has been posting on Instagram.

Would being released from even a part-time training commitment put him in an even worse position with no reason to attempt to toe the line as he deals with a range of complicated issues that also involve mental health?

The Dogs and those around him have tried every possible path – backing off, cajoling him, urging him to get off social media, trying tough love, enlisting footy’s most senior Indigenous players to connect with Ugle-Hagan.

None of it has worked.

Perhaps he just doesn’t want to be a professional footballer any more.

What he would find is that the professional hangers-on who populate his life would quickly drift away if he was a former footballer, not a high-profile star.

Putting up a pretence for the next three months that Ugle-Hagan could at some stage integrate into their AFL program before a late-season decision to shut him down would at least preserve his trade value.

As much as that would seem a harsh and calculated decision, a club that lost Bailey Smith for pick 17 must ponder those kinds of decisions if they are to remain in the premiership window.

Clubs cannot lose No. 1 overall picks for late selections without it coming back to bite their list build.

Yet that move seems unlikely given we are only at round 6 and the pretence that Ugle-Hagan is making progress is harder to keep up by the day.

The Dogs’ first priority should be to ensure his health and wellbeing as they work with the AFL in an attempt to put his life back on an even keel.

Having tried and failed to help Ugle-Hagan, their hopes of securing a bumper deal if he leaves also diminish by the week.

Originally published as Jon Ralph: Jamarra Ugle-Hagan will get a second chance after he leaves Bulldogs, but not on his terms