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Sport Nation
"Up in the air": Is Jamarra any closer to an AFL return?
SEN • September 15th, 2025 8:30 pm
SEN chief reporter Sam Edmund has provided an update on the ongoing situation with Western Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
With the Bulldogs’ off-season commencing, the club have held several exit meetings as they prepare for a list re-shuffle ahead of 2026. However, of their senior listed players, Ugle-Hagan remains the only player yet to meet with the club (excluding players featuring at VFL level).
With a deal extending through until the end of 2026, Ugle-Hagan holds contractual security, however his future with the Bulldogs still remains entirely in the hands of the club.
Currently under an AFL management plan, Jamarra remains far from a return to top level football, and while the forward has endured a period of improvement in months past, reports suggest that the odds of suiting up in the red, white and blue are growing increasingly unlikely.
Speaking earlier this year, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was unable to provide a clear answer on where Jamarra’s AFL future lies.
“It remains to be seen (whether he would stay at the club). There’s a bit of water to go under the bridge now at the end of the year and things to consider, so I can’t say definitively whether it would be here or somewhere else,” he said.
“I’d love 'Marra to be here if he’s at his best. Ultimately in an AFL program, you’ve got to be joining in all the time, so if the restart gets him there, then obviously it would be a great thing for the club and him … but we’ll see how we go.”
A matter of weeks later, Ugle-Hagan’s future in professional football is far from any clearer.
“Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s future remains completely up in the air,” Edmund told SEN Afternoons.
“The Western Bulldogs forward is still beholden to that AFL management plan, so as far as his playing future goes, he actually needs to be cleared to play, or to do anything.
“And as far as the league is concerned, that hasn’t happened yet, so he is still in the AFL management plan protocols.
“He still hasn’t undertaken his exit meeting at the Bulldogs yet, so he hasn’t gone through all of the normal medical and conditioning screening processes that lies at the end of the season. All of the guys playing VFL at the Dogs haven’t done that either.
“He hasn’t been at the Whitten Oval for several weeks now, he’s training in gyms privately – only have to follow him on the socials to see that.
“It is said that he is going okay welfare wise. In a good spot, nowhere near AFL level we’re told in terms of the preparedness to play.
“He is contracted for 2026, but I just find it impossible to see him in Dogs colours next season. Anything could happen in terms of his path out of there. Contractually, who knows.
“But his exit meeting - whenever it takes place - might shed some light on that, and I reckon that might happen in the next week or so down at the Kennel.”
