How Ugle-Hagan responded to Cornes’ queries with “coming of age” outing in Blues win

Western Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was enormous in his side’s 100-86 win over Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The key forward had a lot resting on his shoulders with Aaron Naughton out concussed and he absolutely stepped up, kicking 4.3 to go with 20 disposals and six marks on star defender Jacob Weitering.

In the lead-up to the round, SEN host Kane Cornes put Ugle-Hagan in the gun, as he felt the Dog was out of form and that his side had no chance of beating the Blues without a big performance from him.

After Ugle-Hagan answered those queries with a dominant performance, Cornes couldn’t have had more praise for the former No. 1 pick who he described as the story of the game.

“The story was Jamarra Ugle-Hagan for me,” Cornes said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.

“He’s been down on form, he’s been dropping chest marks, running underneath the ball and in all sorts.

“He started poorly, (Jacob) Weitering absolutely had his measure, but I thought, credit to him, the way he was able to adjust mid-game and turn his form around to where he was the best player on the ground.

“He started to say, ‘Ok, I’m not going to wrestle, I’m actually going to come at the contest on the move, that’s my strength’.

“He even took him to stoppage, and he got a goal late there (from a clearance) which was critical.

“The goals that he kicked … he kicked 4.3 and they came at critical moments.”

Cornes labelled Ugle-Hagan’s match as a ‘coming of age’ performance given he did it with all the pressure on him and without his forward partner Naughton.

“I thought it was a coming-of-age performance where he said, ‘There’s no Naughton, I’m going to be the guy’,” Cornes said.

“He was absolutely the guy and the match-winner for the Dogs yesterday.”

Ugle-Hagan will hope to build on his good form when the Dogs face the Cats in a huge clash next Saturday night at GMHBA Stadium.