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Full Noise by SN
The Live Sport Bible is here!Ugle-Hagan tells-all: How AFL forced him to enter rehab
SEN • May 15th, 2026 11:25 am
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has revealed he was forced to go to rehab by the AFL as a key component to him returning to the game.
The 23-year-old has endured a tumultuous 18 months which saw him missing from training on numerous occasions, making headlines for his off-field behaviour and social media use and even being questioned by police when he was at a nightclub during a shooting.
Amid the relentless speculation over his wellbeing and future at the Western Bulldogs, last April, Ugle-Hagan entered rehab in Byron Bay for four weeks.
In a tell-all interview with News Corp, the former No 1 draft pick details his mental health demons, hitting rock bottom and admits he was initially “too stubborn” to listen to those trying to help him.
“I actually got told to do it (rehab) by the AFL, for me to come back and play games.
“I always thought that I was going to play AFL again. It’s just that I just had a different mindset.
“Unfortunately, I was on antidepressants, and I just was so numb to everything.
“I wasn’t myself. I didn’t have that right bubble.
“I was so numb to emotions, feelings I didn’t know that was affecting things around me, because of just the way I was and the environments I was hanging around with.
“I had to do work on myself, which was, honestly … I didn’t want to do it.”
After completing his rehab, Ugle-Hagan went on indefinite leave and never played for the Bulldogs again but says Aaron Naughton and Marcus Bontempelli were an incredible source of support for him.
“I just wasn’t in the right headspace to see it,” he said of those attempting to intervene. “I always thought I was in the right.
“They were telling me the right things, but unfortunately I was just too stubborn to listen, especially going through so much.”
And what of his relationship with Luke Beveridge?
“We didn’t really speak all last year," he added. "So it was a bit of a struggle and that was a little bit harder to come in the doors.
“But he’s obviously like a respectful man, like old school, but… I wouldn’t change a thing. He’s driven my career to be the best year I’ve played."
Ugle-Hagan’s future was a constant source of distraction for the Bulldogs with coach Beveridge quizzed on him week in week out. His career was at a crossroads.
With a year to run on his contract and uncertainty about whether he could ever recapture his form, an AFL lifeline came from the Gold Coast Suns and Damien Hardwick.
The Bulldogs traded him for Pick 74 but the second chance came with a significantly reduced salary on a one-year deal with behavioural clauses.
Ugle-Hagan said the support and belief he felt from the Suns playing group spurred him to prove he was worth the investment.
“It was probably the first time I actually spoke about it, I just said to them that at the end of the day, you can read whatever you want to read on social media, but I’d love to show you who I really am.
“(I said) ‘I promise you that I’m going to come here and do the best I can’.
“The boys backed me in the first time we saw each other – maybe they had questions, like behind my back, but on the table they all backed me in and said they trusted me and said that would make a better chance for us to win a flag.
“So when I had that and had a bit of belief, it kind of made me feel a lot more supported and actually want to find that want more."
Ugle-Hagan made an emotional return to the field in Round 7 against Hawthorn in Launceston.
It was his first AFL game in 596 days and while the last 18 months has pushed him to the darkest places, he insists he wouldn't change anything.
It was his first AFL game in 596 days and while the last 18 months has pushed him to the darkest places, he insists he wouldn't change anything.
“It got me here,” he said.
“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I’ve got a beautiful partner. My football is going to come. I had 12 months off. I’ve put my body through the wall in the last six months.
“But no one thought I was going to play AFL football again, but I did it. It was just against all odds, but at the end of the day, it’s good that I’ve got the choices and I’ve made the right ones now.
“Unfortunately, yes, I made bad decisions, but it still got me to the place where I want to be and need to be.”
Lifeline (24-hour crisis line): 131 114
