Luke Beveridge wants to see strong commitment from troubled forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan after return to club

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge expects troubled forward Jamarra Ugle Hagan to “blend in” full-time to the program again after making commitments around his return to the club this week with “some basic objectives” while declaring a playing comeback was still not certain. Beveridge said the club’s “finite resources” had to be shared among the entire playing group and if there were any signs 23-year-old Ugle-Hagan, who still had a “lot to work through”, was slipping back into habits that demanded a break from the club, then his future with the Bulldogs would be re-evaluated. Having spent time in a mental health retreat as part of AFL-guided plan to get his life and career back on track, Ugle-Hagan, the former No.1 draft pick who hasn’t played a game in 2025 amid off-field turbulence, returned to training with teammates this week. Beveridge said the expectation was now that Ugle-Hagan, who had been on a flexible training arrangement early in the year, reintegrated full-time, but having had conversations with the young star, he was conscious there would be more “challenges” to come “It was important we spent some tome together and talked about some simple things, some basic objectives to aspire to in this period of time and we’ve done that and I am comfortable with the platform now,” Beveridge said on Thursday. “The challenges still remain for a young man who has been away from the club for a period of time and the question mark will be ‘can you be compliant, be here when you need to build this next part of your career?’ “He knows that and we are hoping he wakes up every morning with some enthusiasm to come in and improve his footy but get his life back on track. “We’ll keep an open mind, that’s the commitment at the moment and if it falters, we’ll need to work through why and understand it again. “It’s a bit like the question around who will he play for and when will it be? It’s a bit of an unknown because there will be some tests still along the way.” Beveridge said Ugle-Hagan was aware he needed to be one of many again and not drain club resources in his attempt to get back to the field. “Our mandate is to take care of everyone,” Beveridge said. “We’ve only got finite labour resources, it needs to be spread across many people and critically the playing group and Jamarra understands that. “He knows if they are compromised … focused on him too much, it will affect things. “You’ve almost got to blend in, you are one of a group of players who are so important to us as people as much as players, but we need to spread our love through the whole group., “My expectation is he starts to blend in … and if there’s signs that’s not happening, then we’ll need to work it out.” Beveridge said the club would work through Ugle-Hagan’s return “patiently” and put no pressure on a playing return. “It’s difficult to make any predictions when he might play at either level,” he said. “Probably best we keep our powder dry on that.”