Western Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains says club will not trade Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

Speculation is running rife about the futures of both Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Luke Beveridge at Whitten Oval. Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains has guaranteed one of them will be there in 2026.

Western Bulldogs chief executive Ameet Bains has guaranteed the club will not trade Jamarra Ugle-Hagan at year’s end as he raised the possibility of a mid-year re-signing for coach Luke Beveridge.

The Dogs lost in an agonising manner to Collingwood amid a 14-33 free kick imbalance on Friday night to miss the chance to jump to a 2-0 start to the season.

Beveridge’s side takes on Carlton on Friday night in another blockbuster encounter after their clash against Collingwood saw them draw the highest home-and-away crowd in their history as they celebrated Footscray’s VFL-AFL centenary.

Ameet Bains says Jamarra Ugle-Hagan won’t be going anywhere. Picture: Mark Stewart

Liam Jones is a strong chance to return for that clash after a hamstring tear, having got through a huge Friday session involving match loads and extra running.

James O’Donnell will also be available after a hairline crack in his jaw.

Jones will have to pull up well but the Dogs are hopeful he will be available to take on the underdone Charlie Curnow or Harry McKay as the Blues spearhead returns from illness.

The Dogs have plenty of contentious issues swirling under the surface but coach Beveridge seems to be responding well to the pressure of coaching without a contract.

His move to put Joel Freijah in the midfield has paid off and he is talking tough about coaching on somewhere else next year if the Dogs do not recontract him.

But CEO Ameet Bains told ABC Radio the club hadn’t ruled out a mid-season extension given there were regular talks between the premiership coach and himself, president Kyle Watson-Wheeler and board member Luke Darcy.

The futures of both Luke Beveridge and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan remain unclear. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“We continue to chat. There is no time frame set. Things could happen sooner. It could persist into the second half of the season. Performance is important but even in the discussion about performance you have to be very careful not to make judgements too early in the season,” he said.

Board member Luke Darcy, father of brilliant Dogs tall Sam Darcy, is a huge admirer of Beveridge and has at times called out the criticism of the senior coach as bordering on “disrespectful.”

Ugle-Hagan remains some way off a return to VFL football but the club is encouraged by him banking a series of training sessions as he makes up for three months of missed pre-season.

He continues to be sighted elsewhere on game day and still has ground to make up but the club is genuinely buoyed by his recent commitment to training.

Bains said there was no chance he would be traded despite a long list of suitors, adamant his contract through to 2026 put him in a different category to the departed Bailey Smith.

“Without speaking too much about what happened behind the scenes (with Smith) the situations are very different and the framework is very different. Jamarra is contracted to the end of next year. We have been really encouraged since the Indigenous All Stars camp with more consistent attendance. That is the biggest challenge if you look at it in football terms.

“He has missed a lot of the pre-season and we need to build that continuity but we are hopeful he returns at some stage this year. There is absolutely no thought about an impending departure, and he’s contracted for next year.”

Bains said talks with free agent Ed Richards were going strongly and said the club was certain both he and fellow free agent Marcus Bontempelli would be at the Dogs next year.

Originally published as Western Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains says club will not trade Jamarra Ugle-Hagan