Western Bulldogs star Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has spearheaded his team to an upset win over Carlton on Saturday night.
The talented key forward stepped up in the absence of teammate Aaron Naughton to boot four critical goals in the Bulldogs' 14-point win at Marvel Stadium.
Ugle-Hagan said post-game that he was "pumped" to get the win over a heavily-fancied Blues outfit.
"The way we played was unbelievable," Ugle-Hagan told Western Bulldogs Media.
"That's the way we (want to) play our football and you can see we get the result at the end of the day."
The Djap Wurrung, Gunditjmara and Noongar man spent time further up the ground in order to negate the influence of Carlton defender Jacob Weitering, who had started the match strongly.
The move culminated with Ugle-Hagan finishing with a career-high 20 disposals and six marks.
"I had to change my role as (Jacob) Weitering was having a massive impact," he said.
"So I just changed my role to go up the ground and impact there, which was a good result for me."
It was a strong response from the 22-year-old after copping criticism for his quiet performance against Port Adelaide last week.
Power premiership player Kane Cornes said on Nine's Sunday Footy Show that Ugle-Hagan was the "story" of yesterday's match.
"He's been down on form, he's been dropping chest marks, running underneath the ball and in all sorts," Cornes said on Nine.
"I thought it was a coming-of-age performance where he said, 'there's no Naughton, I'm going to be the guy'.
"He was absolutely the guy and the match-winner for the Dogs yesterday."
Cornes was impressed with Ugle-Hagan's ability to overcome a slow start to the match and ultimately have a big impact in his team's win.
"He started poorly, 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 said.
"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."
Post game, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said it was a great response from his young player.
"(Ugle-Hagan) was searching for answers for himself and wanting to produce something better," Beveridge told media.
"Even in the first quarter, we needed to pay attention to what Jacob Weitering was doing and it was largely off the back of Jamarra.
"'Marra is a young man full of promise and we've seen some of his brilliance.
"He's had some outstanding games against genuinely good opposition, he's played some of his best games previously against teams that are at the pointy end of the ladder."
