Inside story: How it all went ‘pear shaped’ for young Bulldogs star Jamarra Ugle-Hagan
How did Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and the Bulldogs get here? As SCOTT GULLAN reveals for the first time, it all went ‘pear shaped’ two hours before last year’s semi-final.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A decision on whether Western Bulldogs star forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan should take his place in last year’s elimination final was still being debated two hours before the opening bounce.
It can be revealed Dogs coach Luke Beveridge had been concerned about Ugle-Hagan’s state of mind in the lead-up to the game and raised the possibility of pulling him out with his leadership group inside the rooms at the MCG as they were preparing to take on Hawthorn.
After an intense discussion, the players, led by captain Marcus Bontempelli, put forward a compromise with the coach which saw Ugle-Hagan starting on the interchange bench.
The coaching panel and other senior management at the Dogs had been concerned about Ugle-Hagan’s increasingly erratic behaviour over the last month of the season.
This explosive revelation might go some way to explaining the Dogs strangely subdued performance against the Hawks where they were badly outplayed after leading at quarter-time, losing by 37 points.
Ugle-Hagan played the worst game of his season, having just two possessions and kicking one behind – from an easy set shot 20 metres out directly in front of goal.
“There was a situation before the game and it all went pear shaped after that,” was how one observer described the stunning pre-match blow-up.
The fallout from the elimination final is now seen as a tipping point in the career of Ugle-Hagan, 22, who has struggled with personal demons since.
He has spent most of the pre-season training away from the club and, while he has been back at the Whitten Oval over the past couple of weeks, his return to playing is expected to be months, not weeks away.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
In August last year – five weeks before the elimination final – Ugle-Hagan was seemingly at the peak of his powers. He’d just put together the best month of his career, kicking 14 goals as the Bulldogs made a stunning run towards September, stringing wins together against finals contenders Carlton, Geelong, Sydney and Melbourne.
In round 19 against the Blues, Ugle-Hagan kicked three goals in the final quarter to get his side over the line and in round 21 against ladder-leaders Sydney, he kicked four goals in what was one of the best games of his career.
It looked like he was finally enjoying his football after a tough initiation into the big league.
Ugle-Hagan had been a slow burn with Beveridge keen to give him time to adjust to the rigours of what it means to be an AFL footballer. He didn’t debut until round 17 of his first season and then was deliberately shielded by the Dogs as he physically and mentally developed.
The pressure of being the 2020 No.1 draft pick was always hanging around, but sadly he had to also deal with shocking racism in 2023. After being racially abused by fans during and after his side’s round 2 loss to St Kilda, the following week Ugle-Hagan was the matchwinner, kicking five goals in a 14-point win over the Brisbane Lions.
It was after he kicked his first goal when the Indigenous star recreated Nicky Winmar’s famous stance against racial abuse. Ugle-Hagan turned to the Marvel Stadium crowd, lifted his jumper and pointed to his skin, mirroring Winmar’s iconic gesture to Collingwood fans almost 30 years to the day at Victoria Park in April 1993.
“Back in the day they would’ve had it a lot worse, but now players are getting sick of it and they’re making a stance,” Ugle-Hagan said. “We’re calling them out and we’re sorting it out, and everyone’s getting behind our back nowadays.”
An emotional Beveridge backed his young star as the Bulldogs wrapped their arms around him. It’s what they did again early last year when Ugle-Hagan took two weeks’ leave to deal with “family things”. He’d already been grieving the loss of family members, which according to the coach had “compounded things for him”.
What many don’t understand is the responsibility a young Indigenous man has to his family during the mourning period, which can often go for weeks – with the impact ongoing.
Ugle-Hagan, one of five brothers, grew up on an Aboriginal mission in Framlingham, 20km northeast of Warrnambool. He moved away for his final four years of high school, taking up a scholarship to Scotch College in Melbourne, where he lived in the boarding house.
At 16, he played in the 2019 Oakleigh Chargers premiership side and was dominant alongside future top-two picks Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson, now both at the Gold Coast Suns.
That’s when the Lance Franklin comparisons started, but when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Ugle-Hagan returned home to the bush. He didn’t get to play in his draft year – with the NAB League cancelled – but importantly he became the first male in his family to finish year 12, which he described as “pretty special”.
Like a lot of the 2020 AFL draft class, the lack of football during Covid impacted the start of Ugle-Hagan’s career, but by 2023 he began to come out of his shell with 35 goals from 23 games.
He was a matchwinner ready to explode and there were plenty of clubs taking notice with Hawthorn and Richmond coming with huge offers for the young key forward.
But after what he described as a “reset” with his family during an absence from the club in early 2024, the 22-year-old signed a two-year contract extension in May, which took him through to the end of 2026. It also saw his pay-packet balloon, with industry sources saying the Dogs star was likely earning between $800,000-$900,000 this year.
Young players with a lot of disposable income and plenty of downtime has long been a recipe for concern in the AFL and there were signs Ugle-Hagan was starting to struggle to get the balance right.
Around this time he also split with his influencer girlfriend Olivia Kelly, who he’d dated for 18 months. He’d previously been in a relationship with Mia Fevola, the daughter of former AFL star Brendan Fevola.
While he was still producing on the field, Ugle-Hagan’s off-field situation was becoming more of a concern for the Dogs management, who were putting a lot of resources into helping him.
Several former Indigenous players had reached out offering to help, while a number of key club personnel – from chief executive Ameet Bains to football boss Sam Power – were continually checking in with regular dinner invitations.
By this stage teammates were also beginning to worry. They were starting to tire of his antics, he was hanging out with new “friends” and turning up dishevelled to recovery sessions. But the beauty of football clubs is their ability to rally around each other during the tough times.
With his home situation fluid, Ugle-Hagan ended up bunking down for several months with Rory Lobb and his fiance, Lexi Mary.
But unfortunately things weren’t changing, with one Dogs insider saying: “Everyone saw the writing on the wall, the whole club saw it”.
A flashpoint came in the pre-finals bye when rumours circulated of Ugle-Hagan being out on the town and clearly enjoying the week off. This upset Beveridge in particular and the coaching panel agonised in the week leading up to the elimination final about dropping the star forward before things came to a head just prior to the game.
Things went from bad to worse once the Bulldogs season was over.
Ugle-Hagan went away on holidays with his social media account documenting one long party which in November is said to have become a “serious problem”.
When the Dogs returned to pre-season training, there was no sign of Ugle-Hagan.
By January, his continued absence and regular social media updates of training away from the club forced the Dogs to release a statement saying: “The Western Bulldogs can confirm that forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is currently undertaking flexible training arrangements as he deals with personal issues. The club continues to provide its full support to Jamarra and remains in constant contact with him, his family and his management. With Jamarra’s health and wellbeing of paramount importance, the club requests that his privacy be respected during this period.”
HOW DID IT GET TO THIS POINT?
That’s a question that has been asked, not only at board level at the Whitten Oval, but also by the top office at the AFL.
The last thing they want to see is one of the game’s brightest young stars and a hero to many young kids, losing his way and being forced away from the game.
Did the Bulldogs do enough? Did they turn a blind eye? Did they allow their standards to slip? Where does the accountability lie?
There had been a lot going on behind-the-scenes at the Whitten Oval.
A review of the football operations by former Essendon and Melbourne CEO Peter Jackson tried to find a solution to one of the biggest elephants in the room at the club with Beveridge and football boss, former club great Chris Grant, not on speaking terms.
This was clearly making it awkward for all, including players, with former Geelong player Matthew Egan promoted to the new role of general manager of football operations to act as a buffer between the pair.
Eventually, the inevitable happened and Grant stepped down in November.
There had been angst over the amount of spending in the football department compared to other areas of the business – and what other clubs outlay – with a sense the core of the business was being neglected.
The support for Beveridge hasn’t been adequate in the eyes of some, with a continual stream of staff leaving the club. In October, Jamie Maddocks, the head of development, left for West Coast, following fitness boss Matthew Inness, who joined the Eagles 12 months earlier.
Then, last month, national recruiting manager Dom Milesi quit after five years.
This constant climate of change and uncertainty is being played out in a very public way with Beveridge out-of-contract and likely to be fighting for his job in the opening couple of months of the season.
And it is also clearly playing on Bontempelli’s mind with the captain yet to commit his long-term future with his contract also up at the end of this year.
Like many of his teammates, Bontempelli has been frustrated with a lot of the goings on at the Whitten Oval and came away disappointed when he tried to help Ugle-Hagan over the summer.
Some mending of bridges is required with that relationship, the same with Beveridge who has indicated to the playing group that, despite the club’s horror injury list, he won’t risk selection integrity by recalling Ugle-Hagan ahead of time.
There have been positive signs of late – off the back of Ugle-Hagan travelling to Perth to train with the Indigenous All-Stars team before its game against Fremantle in February.
“Definitely had my ups and downs with family loss, and then I struggled with that and the balance of training,” Ugle-Hagan told Channel 7, before he flew to Perth.
“I’ve just stayed home, trained on my own and just trying to keep busy with my training and get on top of that.
“Psychologist stuff, which is, I don’t know, it’s a bit difficult, but right now I’m just enjoying my footy and training hard.”
While he missed the Bulldogs official photo shoot, he did attend the club’s season launch on Monday and hasn’t missed a training session over the past fortnight with teammates encouraged by his new positive attitude.
What it means for the season ahead, only time will tell, but a fit and happy Ugle-Hagan is not only good for the Western Bulldogs, it’s good for football.
‘Wouldn’t have played’: Lions star backs AFL call amid NRL angst
Brisbane captain Lachie Neale says he wouldn’t have left his family if the AFL had relocated the club’s Opening Round game, amid angst at the NRL’s decision to shift a Queensland match to Sydney. HAVE YOUR SAY
Read more
Tom Hawkins opens up on life post-AFL
Tom Hawkins says he has no regrets about calling time on his career at the end of last season. He opens up on life out of the AFL, stepping into the media and the calls for local footy appearances.
Read more