Western Bulldogs Acting Head of Football Sam Power says Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s welfare is the number one priority this pre-season.
The 22-year-old is undertaking flexible training arrangements as he deals with personal issues, with the endorsement of the football program.
“We’re in constant dialogue with Jamarra, and really the priority at the moment with him is his welfare and what we can do as a football club to support him,” Power told Gerard Whateley on SEN 1116.
“Clearly he’s got some personal issues and challenges that he’s working through. The important thing for us as a Club at the moment is to be able to provide that support to Jamarra, and have regular communication with him, his family and also with his manager.
“To be honest, the training and playing side (of things) isn’t the number one priority at the moment.
“The priority really is to support him through these challenges, and deal with the different things he’s facing. Hopefully he’ll overcome those but from a short-term perspective, it’s really the support and the welfare.”
Power also confirmed that Ugle-Hagan won’t travel for the program’s pre-season camp to Maroochydore as he continues alternative training arrangements.
“We’ve got a training program for him at the moment that has that flexibility – there is a portion of it that is off-site, there’s part of that off-site that is with Club staff, and there is the flexibility for him to then be in at the Club on different days,” Power said.
“We feel at the moment, with all the information, that that’s the best program for him and that’s what will continue with him not going up to Noosa tomorrow for our camp.
“We aren’t putting a timeframe on Jamarra at the moment in terms of when he might be playing or when he might be back in full time with our training program.
“Clearly with all of our decisions at present in the short term, it’s around his wellbeing – we want to set him up in the right way to succeed on the field in the medium to longer term.
“We’re really hopeful that Jamarra’s going to play a really important role for us this year, but as I’ve said, we don’t have a timeline on that at the moment.”
Listen to the full interview below.
