Buckley: Should Jamarra be paid during Dogs absence?

Nathan Buckley has questioned whether AFL players taking an extended leave of absence due to non-workplace induced stress should be paid in full.

Speaking on SEN with Gerard Whateley, the former Collingwood coach used the current situation surrounding Jamara Ugle-Hagan and the Western Bulldogs to illustrate his point.

Ugle-Hagan is yet to play for his club this season and only trains sporadically as he continues to deal with off-field issues.

The 22-year-old has been the subject of significant media coverage in recent weeks, with a particular focus on his social media activity and decision to skip the Bulldogs’ centenary celebrations in favour of a night out in Brighton.

Despite continued public support from coach Luke Beveridge and his teammates, there appears to be no timeline on when he might return as a full-time member of the club and it is this element of the situation that got Buckley debating the financial impact and drain on resources.

“Jamarra is one of the Bulldogs players,” Buckley said on SEN's Whateley. “They have a list of 44 or 45 and every one of those players deserves to have the same amount of professionalism, care and support in their career.

“Just because they’re your best player doesn’t mean you should have more of the humanitarian support and aid that is available.

“If there is a drain on those resources because of someone who is struggling, or not well within themselves and they can’t contribute, it might be that you think, ‘no we’ve got to triage that off’, or get third parties outside of the club.

“There are so many players that need time and attention and want to get better and want to contribute.”

Asked if the AFL should be considering clawbacks in contracts, Buckley assessed the Ugle-Hagan scenario from a “real world” perspective.

“What happens in the real world,” Buckley said.

“If we assume, and I don’t like assuming, that the stresses in Jamarra’s life have not been caused by the environment at the Bulldogs (then) this isn’t a work place stress situation.

“This is issues in his life external to the club that are causing his lack of capacity to come and contribute in a professional sense.

“In a normal work place you would take leave with pay from what you have accrued and you might have holiday pay and then you would take leave without pay for the time you need to.

“That’s not the case (in AFL).

“So the personal aspect of it is the Bulldogs will be committed to helping Jamarra as a young man as much as they can but where is the professional aspect?

“He’s not contributing to the football club – on or off the field and he's getting paid full whack

“I think there has to be some kind of balance in that without throwing people to the wolves.

“There has to be balance and it’s swayed against the Bulldogs and towards Jamarra. The Dogs aren’t a massively financial club.”