Indigenous All-Stars leader Jarman Impey says they’re excited to embrace forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

Hawthorn defender Jarman Impey says he and his Indigenous All-Stars teammates will get around troubled Western Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan upon arrival in Perth.

Ugle-Hagan arrived from Melbourne on Thursday with several other players, but the 22-year-old will have a non-playing role for the game against the Dockers at Optus Stadium on Saturday.

The young Bulldog has missed most of pre-season and did not attend the club’s camp in Noosa because of personal reasons which have disrupted his start to 2025.

He has trained with the Bulldogs VFL team but is in doubt for the club’s season opener against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on March 15.

Ugle-Hagan went straight from the airport gates to the team bus after arriving in Perth on Thursday morning.

Impey, who is part of the Indigenous All-Stars leadership group under captain Michael Walters, said they were excited to see the exciting forward.

“We’re pumped to see Jamarra here,” Impey said.

“All the boys will definitely embrace him and we’re excited to spend the weekend with him. So we’re looking forward to that.”

Brisbane premiership star Charlie Cameron said they wanted to make Ugle-Hagan feel welcome.

“I haven’t spoken to him but it’s pretty cool that he gets to come along,” Cameron said.

“He’s had his few going on at the moment but having him in camp and being around all the other Indigenous players it’s pretty cool.

“Hopefully we can make him feel welcome. I know he’s going through a few things, we should have him out there playing. We’ll get around him and make him feel welcome in and put a smile on his face all week.”

Impey said it was an “absolute honour” to be a leader for the exhibition game, having played in the last game against West Coast a decade ago.

“It’s an absolute honour to be a leader, a part of this game and it’s probably something that I will look back on afterwards,” he said.

“At the moment I’m just happy to see everyone and happy to play alongside them all.”

The Indigenous All-Stars are expected to be encouraged to play with flair and excitement for the exhibition game.

Impey joked that as a defender he may need to “tell the boys, ‘come back’”.

“Don’t go off, run up forward and try to kick a goal … I think the boys are going to be excited to get out on the field and trying to score,” he said.

“I’ll be one to tell them to come back and defend first.

“That’s something that X (coach Xavier Clarke) will explain to the boys, is defend first and then we can play off our defence.”