Source : the age
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Western Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has taken the unusual step of posting a leaked image of Nick Riewoldt from 15 years ago as his new profile picture on Instagram after the St Kilda great’s criticism of his off-field behaviour.
Riewoldt had called for the Bulldogs to part ways with Ugle-Hagan and questioned why the player continued to be on full pay despite his absences from training.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has taken leave from the Bulldogs.Credit: AFL Photos
The cropped headshot of Riewoldt is from a nude photo taken by a Saints teammate and published on social media by a teenage schoolgirl in 2010.
Ugle-Hagan took leave of absence from the Bulldogs on Tuesday to deal with personal issues.
The Bulldogs, who are aware of Ugle-Hagan’s change in profile picture, have declined to comment, while his management has been contacted for comment.
Thursday’s developments come a day after Riewoldt’s most recent commentary on Ugle-Hagan, whose playing future at the Dogs and the AFL is uncertain after a series of dubious posts on social media and his erratic off-field behaviour.
“The frustration for the Bulldogs was that he was showing up for training for a week, and then not showing up,” Riewoldt told Triple M’s Mick in the Morning on Wednesday.
“They had no real line of sight on when he was going to come, it was basically just lucky dip – that’s distracting.
“I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was when the group went to Adelaide for Gather Round – there was a compulsory session for the players that didn’t go on the Saturday morning, he didn’t show up for it.
“He is on full pay at the moment. He has been paid and will be continued to be paid somewhere between $800,000 – $900,000 for this year.
“I think the balance of power has moved too far in the player’s favour and you end up with a situation like this. It is difficult to talk about because there is mental health at play, but clubs should have some sort of discretion to be able to recoup some of that money.
“There are all types of rumours and innuendo out there as to whether he is tanking – and we don’t need to get into all the various situations – but it’s hard to see him playing footy again for the Dogs this year.”
Melbourne star Clayton Oliver will miss Saturday’s clash with West Coast after having a difficult week.
Demons football performance general manager Alan Richardson said in a statement that Oliver’s wellbeing was the club’s top priority and they hoped he would be back training next week.
Clayton Oliver will not face the Eagles.Credit: Melbourne Football Club
“Clayton has had a difficult week personally and as such, both he and the club have agreed that it would be best for him not to play against the Eagles on Saturday,” Richardson said in a statement on Thursday night.
“We expect Clayton to return to the program next week, but as always his mental and physical health will be the priority.
“As an industry, it’s pleasing to see the progress we’ve made in normalising players putting their hand up when they need support.
“The club’s focus is on surrounding Clayton with the care he needs and we ask that his privacy is respected.”
West Coast captain Oscar Allen has opened up about his mental health battle after his highly publicised meeting with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, saying it felt like everyone hated him.
Allen is a restricted free agent, but fans vented their anger when it was revealed he had caught up with Mitchell last month.
Oscar Allen of the Eagles leads his team out onto the field.Credit: Getty Images
It was initially reported the pair met up in public, but Allen said it was a private dinner at his house.
The fallout from that meeting – combined with Allen’s on-field struggles – led to a downfall in his mental health.
The 26-year-old was granted a few days away from the club a fortnight ago, and he returned to playing duties in last week’s 50-point loss to Hawthorn.
“It was a pretty difficult month,” Allen told Perth radio station Mix 94.5.
“I decided, with the club, to step away a couple of weeks ago. I just wasn’t handling it all mentally whatsoever.
“I’m going a lot better now. It definitely was really tough, particularly when I love West Coast.
“I love the club, I love playing footy, and I wasn’t able to do any of that well.
“And then because of that, I suppose your identity as a footballer and a person kind of get merged, because playing footy is something I’ve loved to do since I was a kid, and my job was going poorly.
“Publicly, everyone hated me, and my performance was poor. It was tough, but I’ve had a really good support network around me.”
Allen used Thursday’s radio interview to clarify how his meeting with Mitchell came about.
“I’ve known Mitch since I was 18. When I got drafted, he was a coach at West Coast,” Allen said.
“We’ve had a relationship for a long period of time.
“The thing that frustrated me was people are annoyed that, ‘oh, you did it in public’.
“I had dinner with Sam privately at my house. No one else was there.
“It was just two guys having a chat. We were having a conversation about where I’m at, how I’ve been going this year.
“He was a premiership captain for Hawthorn, so I was trying to talk a little bit about when Hawthorn won in 2008 and then had a couple of tough years, how they responded from that.
“Then it got played out I met him in public.
“I clearly understand the frustration of fans and I suppose the annoyance a lot of people had, but I didn’t think it would be as big of a story.”
Allen said he has taken a step away from social media in order to protect himself mentally, adding that if anyone sees any posts from him, it’s from his fiance Lorna McNabb.
The key forward is set to play in defence again when he lines up for his 100-game in Saturday night’s clash with Melbourne at Optus Stadium.
Eagles coach Andrew McQualter dismissed any suggestions Allen should be dropped to regain his form.
“I don’t agree with it at all,” McQualter said.
“Oscar’s a really good player. He’s a high-level AFL player.
“We know he’s not in the best form of his career right now, but Oscar is working as hard as anyone to get himself going in the football field, and we’re going to continue to support you.”
Melbourne have genuine selection pressure for the first time this season as four players push to return to AFL ranks, coach Simon Goodwin says.
And while Goodwin rates the Demons’ trip to Perth to play West Coast on Saturday night as a danger game, he’s welcomed the headaches at match committee.
“This is probably the first time for the year where we’ve had a real challenge in selecting our best team, which is great,” Goodwin told reporters on Thursday.
“Jake Melksham was managed last week, he’s available again.
“Jacob van Rooyen and Aidan Johnson both had six or seven shots on goal each, played some terrific footy [in the VFL last week].
“Daniel Turner is back from concussion, so we’ve got some decisions to make … it’s a great position to be in.”
After five losses to start their season, the Demons have downed Fremantle and Richmond but Goodwin is wary of the Perth trip to meet the winless Eagles at Optus Stadium.
Last year, Melbourne suffered a shock 35-point loss to West Coast at the venue in round 11 and returned to lose by 50 points to Fremantle in round 20.
“Clearly our performances last year in Perth, both against West Coast and Fremantle, weren’t to the level,” Goodwin said.
“We’ve been working really hard on our style of play over the last month and how we show up week after week.
“We want to be a team that is really hard to play against, no matter where or who we’re playing.”
North Melbourne are not the only club that has placed a media ban on Kane Cornes. The outspoken pundit has also been barred from the Western Bulldogs’ rooms.
A defiant Cornes has said he will not change his approach to the job despite being blacklisted by the Kangaroos this week.
Former Port Adelaide player and pundit Kane Cornes (right). Alastair Clarkson and the Kangaroos.Credit: The Age/Getty Images
North’s move has created a juicy subplot to the club’s clash with Essendon, which is being broadcast by Cornes’s employer Channel Seven.
Seven had their request for Cornes to take part in an interview with North coach Alastair Clarkson rejected by the Kangaroos over comments he had made that the club deemed to be “personal and vindictive” attacks towards their players and staff.
North have said they will also bar Cornes from interviewing any of their people on the numerous shows he appears on.
It comes at a time when the Bulldogs have also taken action against Cornes, who said in February coach Luke Beveridge would not see out the season at Whitten Oval.
“These things come in ebbs and flows, don’t they?” Cornes said on SEN’s Sportsday show. “The Western Bulldogs wouldn’t have me in their change rooms the other night so this isn’t new.”
The Bulldogs declined to comment.
Cornes has used his numerous media platforms to double down on his hard stance against the Kangaroos, saying the club’s strategy was “weak”.
“It’s a missed opportunity,” Cornes said. “It doesn’t really matter to me. It doesn’t really hinder me doing my job one little bit. It doesn’t hinder Channel Seven covering the games one little bit.
“It was a good opportunity for North Melbourne in one of their only primetime games for the year to be able to stand up to what they’re calling bullying, which is laughable really to use that word from Todd [Viney].
“I think they’ve been poorly led, and poorly advised. It’s their change rooms. They’ve got every right to let whoever they want into their change rooms. I’ve got no issue with them backing up and standing up for their player, I just think it’s a weak strategy that they’ve gone with.”
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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Essendon v North Melbourne match. We’re kicking things off a little earlier than usual today, to keep you up to date with all the footy news bubbling away ahead of tonight’s match.
Stay tuned for teams updates from 6.20pm AEST, news from around the various coach’s press conferences this afternoon and of course for all the updates during tonight’s clash.
