Hawthorn has entered the race to sign Western Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, reports Seven’s Mitch Cleary.
The 21-year-old comes out of contract at the end of the 2024 season and many expect the former No.1 draft pick to explode in his fourth AFL campaign.
While Cleary says that the Dogs are confident that they’ll re-sign their man, he says that the Hawks are well and truly in the race for his signature as they have ample salary cap space to spare.
“This is big, right now Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is the most in-demand key forward in the competition,” Cleary told Talking Footy.
“Many believe this is the year he’s going to explode into the competition.
“Right now, the Dogs are extremely confident that he’ll re-sign and they’re in a good place.
“But Hawthorn has entered the race to sign Jamarra Ugle-Hagan. We know they’re after a key back, but they’re also after a key forward and they’ve got salary cap space.”
Cleary expects the Hawks to come hard at Ugle-Hagan after missing out on a trio of other young key forwards as they look to partner Mitch Lewis with another star option.
“They went after Todd Marshall in recent times, Ben King and they missed out on Aaron Naughton as well,” Cleary said.
“But the Hawks are well and truly in the race for Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
“We know Sydney has been linked and the Pies have been linked also, but make no mistake the Hawthorn footy club want to partner Jamarra Ugle-Hagan with Mitch Lewis as a key pillar in their attack.
“The Dogs though, are confident he’ll be their man for the future.”
After Aaron Naughton re-signed until the end of the 2032 season, Bulldogs great Adam Cooney thinks that Ugle-Hagan and his management will push for a deal on similar terms.
If the Bulldogs are unable to also offer Ugle-Hagan a big-money long-term deal, Cooney thinks that he could look to sign that type of contract elsewhere.
