‘Complete black hole’: Hidden cost of Jamarra absence as Buddy backs rival move

A hidden cost to the Western Bulldogs for Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s absence has come to light, while AFL champion Buddy Franklin has advocated Sydney as a suitable new home for the troubled former No. 1 pick.

Ugle-Hagan remains unavailable for AFL selection for the Dogs and on a flexible training program as he battles personal problems, with no timetable on when the key forward will return to the field amid growing uncertainty on his future at the Kennel.

It leaves a salary cap hole at Whitten Oval during his absence, with Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph revealing there’s AFLPA protections that means Ugle-Hagan will keep earning his roughly $800,000 salary.

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News Corp colleague Scott Gullan has meanwhile highlighted the Dogs have been internally discussing hiw they used six draft picks to match a bid for him as a Next Generation Academy product with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 AFL Draft, leaving a “black hole” in their list.

“This is something the Dogs have been thinking about and discussing internally. If this continues to go south and Jamarra doesn’t play again for the Dogs, at least this year, it’s wiped out the whole 2020 draft,” Gullan said on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.

“The Dogs spent all year getting draft picks, they had six draft picks they had to compile that got enough points.

“If they didn’t have to do that, they have all those picks — valued from Pick 26 to Pick 50. In that range there’s players like Beau McCreery, Shannon Neale, Ollie Lord, Corey Durdin and Nathan O’Driscoll.

“So the Dogs have got this gap in their list because they put all the eggs in the Jamarra basket. It made so much sense and we understood it, but the system meant they had to give all this up.

“So now they’re looking back going: ‘If Jamarra doesn’t play for us again, we only had one other pick in that draft and he’s already been delisted’.

“There’s a complete black hole and now they might even lose Jamarra as well. It’s hurting them big time and is going to keep hurting them.”

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Ralph said there’s “despair” and “some frustration” from the Dogs as they work through Ugle-Hagan’s complex issues.

He reported that while the club hopes it won’t need to doc the 23-year old’s pay and force him into an indefinite absence, they could allege a breach of contract through the AFL and AFLPA if they reworked expectations from the current flexible arrangement.

“They’d have to tell ‘Marra’: ‘You’re not the part-time footballer right now with a flexible arrangement. You’re a full-time football — you come to every recovery session, every training session and every planning session. If you don’t do that, we doc your pay’,” Ralph added on Midweek Tackle.

“I think it’s less likely, but they’re looking for a light bulb moment there. He’s had a good couple of days, but let’s face it, he’s only had a good couple of days for the last six weeks — and very few of them over the last six months.

“I think it's coming to a head. Jamarra needs to change and he’s not prepared to do that right now.”

Ugle-Hagan’s childhood hero, Franklin, spoke at length about the troubled Bulldog on his new podcast, suggesting Sydney as a good fit for 2026 to help the forward get out of the Melbourne bubble.

Franklin himself left Hawthorn for Sydney to escape some of the limelight, playing 172 of his 354 games at the Swans.

AFL Round 17. Western Bulldogs vs Sydney Swans at Marvel Stadium , Melbourne. 11/07/2021. Sydneys Lance Franklin and Bulldog Jamarra Ugle-Hagan come together after todays game . Pic: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia

“I think if you looked at Jamarra and said just football, yes, you’re grabbing him in two seconds, he was a No. 1 pick,” Franklin told the Buddy & Shane Podcast.

“If it was just that, you’d obviously get him to the club, but obviously there’s other stuff going on which is unfortunate. So if you’re a club trying to get him, you’re going to be doing your due diligence … so there’s a lot that’s going to go on with that.

“The biggest thing for Jamarra is that he is happy and healthy.

“With Sydney, if he was able to come there, they’ve got really good leaders. A lot of the boys are from Melbourne, so when they relocate to Sydney, they don’t have family up there, that’s why they’re so close, they literally lean on each other every day.

“If he was to come up there, there’s no doubt he’d fit in really nicely with that group.”

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