How Hawthorn star Jaeger O’Meara rebuilt his AFL career

The hype surrounding Jaeger O’Meara started very early on but a career that was nearly derailed by a serious injury has been rebuilt with astute management and patience.

Jaeger O'Meara is kicking on at Hawthorn. Picture: Michael Klein

The hype surrounding Jaeger O’Meara started very early on.

It was bubbling long before he played his first AFL game with Gold Coast in 2013, starting in country Western Australia when he was still a teenager.

The kid from out west was a star and everyone who saw him knew it.

Former Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos realised it the second he laid eyes on him.

“I saw him at the SCG before he was allowed to play with the Suns, because he went up there as a 17-year-old, and he was the best kid I'd seen,” Roos said.

“His talent is exceptional.”

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Those in the know from WA already had him well on their radar.

The locals there still talk about the day a then 16-year-old O’Meara dominated the Great Northern Football League senior grand final in in 2010 to be best afield.

Future Suns teammate Jack Martin, then 15, also put on a show that day playing for the opposition side.

It certainly caught the Suns’ attention.

O’Meara was a clear standout; he was dynamic and possessed so much power at such a young age.

And he had the movie star looks.

“We saw him as the complete package,” said a former Suns executive.

And he was, winning the Rising Star award in his first year, until the day in 2015 that changed the trajectory of his AFL career forever.

Jaeger O’Meara is in career-best form. Picture: Michael Klein

Playing in a NEAFL practice match on the outskirts of Brisbane, O’Meara ruptured his patella tendon and didn’t play for two years.

It is a far different injury than rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament.

For one, the pain when it happens is horrendous.

A patella tear is also much more complex than an ACL and the recovery is longer.

A leading medico told the Herald Sun the affected knee eventually improves with time, but it takes about two years followed by constant maintenance.

O’Meara will now have to manage it forever, continually working on strengthening and loading the tendon.

Even during the off-season there can be no let up.

There have been concerns about his knee issues for years, and former Lions star Jonathan Brown was one of many questioning whether he would ever get back to where he was.

“I saw him in a game two years ago in Launceston and he couldn't move," Brown said on Fox Footy.

“And you were so worried about him because I saw him as a kid and I thought he was the best young kid I'd seen.”

Jaeger O'Meara was an exciting prospect before he ruptured his patella tendon in 2015.

The evidence suggests O’Meara has followed his medical advice.

It has taken longer than he would have hoped to get there, but he is now in career-best form and the numbers prove it.

Champion Data statistics have him at career highs so far this season in a stack of areas, including disposals, contested possessions and clearances.

The 25-year-old has stepped up and helped fill the Hawks’ midfield void following the season-ending injury to Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell.

Mitchell this week paid tribute to his teammate’s contribution.

“I think he probably copped some unfair criticism when he moved across to Hawthorn,” he said on Channel Nine.

“Now he’s showing everyone he's an elite midfielder of the competition.

“Not only his game and having 40-odd touches and 20 of them contested, but also his leadership be brings to the team and he's been super for us this year.”

There was a view at the time Hawthorn gave up the farm to trade him in, with Kane Cornes famously declaring it would be a flat-out bust.

He said it could be “one of the worst deals of all time”.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson admitted yesterday it was a “punt” when they took on O’Meara.

It was, but it’s one that is starting to look like it will pay off.

Originally published as How Hawthorn star Jaeger O’Meara rebuilt his AFL career