Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is officially a Bulldog.
The Next Generation Academy product was selected at pick one in the 2020 NAB AFL Draft, with the Western Bulldogs matching a bid from the Adelaide Crows to secure him.
Ugle-Hagan becomes the first Bulldog to top the AFL draft since Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney had his name called out first in 2003.
He is the first Indigenous player to be taken at pick one since Des Headland in 1998.
Ugle-Hagan is a skilful, athletic key forward who stands at 195 centimetres tall and weighs in at 90 kilograms.
Experts have likened the Oakleigh Chargers and Scotch College product to Sydney Swans superstar Lance Franklin.
He emerged as a player to watch in 2019 as a 17-year-old in a star-studded Chargers’ line up headline by last year’s number one pick, Matt Rowell. Despite playing no football this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ugle-Hagan’s talent meant his stocks have only risen.
“(He’s a) precocious and dazzling Indigenous tall forward with speed off the mark and agility matched by his one-touch overhead marking,” AFL talent ambassador Kevin Sheahan said.
“A left footer with innate goal sense, last season he was prominent for the Oakleigh Chargers, kicking 24 goals in nine games, including 11 in the finals in their premiership year.”
Ugle-Hagan hails from Framlingham, an Indigenous community in south-western Victoria, close to Warrnambool.
The 18-year-old has spent the past couple of years as part of the Bulldogs’ Next Generation Academy.
Through this program he has had the opportunity to train with the senior group and live with skipper Marcus Bontempelli and fellow leader Josh Dunkley, meaning he will be no stranger to his new home, VU Whitten Oval, and his new teammates.
