Fremantle’s Jaeger O’Meara opens up about his evolution into a wingman and facing former side Hawthorn
It became clear to Jaeger O’Meara at the end of last season that Fremantle’s midfield had outgrown him. He tells ELIZA REILLY how a shift to the wing has reinvigorated his career.
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Jaeger O’Meara has spent his whole life hunting the footy.
An inside midfielder with an appetite for the contest, O’Meara has forged his career on contested football and clearances.
That role was supposed to continue when O’Meara joined Fremantle in the 2022 trade period, with the Dockers’ initial pitch promising the imposing onballer an opportunity to help develop the likes of Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong.
But after one season, it became clear that Fremantle’s midfield had outgrown him.
As he prepares to play his former club Hawthorn for the second time, the team that traded him to make room for Will Day in the midfield, O’Meara faces an eerily similar scenario.
Instead of feeling unwanted, O’Meara spent the pre-season reinventing himself as a wingman.
“It’s been an evolution,” O’Meara told this masthead. “We were nowhere near where we wanted to be last year as a midfield group and as a team.
“We missed out on finals. You have to find ways to get better and credit to our coaches, they sat down and thought there were a couple of missing pieces of the puzzle in our midfield group.
“They decided to throw in a few bigger bodies like Nat Fyfe and Hayden Young. And Matt Johnson’s evolution as a player as well, he’s growing every week and is going to be a good player for a long time.
“It’s all about evolving and that’s what we’ve done so far.
“The health of Fyfey was one thing. He had a really good stretch of pre-season where his body was in a really good position so he was obviously coming back in as an inside midfielder. With Hayden Young going in as well, they added something different to our midfield which has become a big threat for us.
“Then we had a couple injuries to some of our guys playing on the wing so an opportunity came up to play out there. That’s how it all came about.”
Last year, O’Meara attended 53.8 per cent of Fremantle’s centre bounces. This year, that figure has dropped to 3.7. The 30-year-old is currently averaging 14.2 disposals, 9.5 uncontested, 2.1 clearances and 3.2 marks.
The wing isn’t a role O’Meara saw himself ever playing and earlier this year, he declared that he was in the worst form of his career.
But now, 15 games on, O’Meara is satisfied with the impact he’s having on-field.
“I’ve definitely grown into the role,” he said. “It’s funny on the wing.
“Some days you have opportunities to get lots of the ball. Other times, like the weekend, you don’t.
“I’m more of a role player in this side. That’s absolutely fine with me because I want to play in a winning team.
“I’ll do whatever I can for that to come to fruition. It’s been up and down and inconsistent. But I’m just enjoying being part of the team and I’m hopefully doing a lot of good defensive work which is an important part of the wing.
“Touches are great but I’m happy playing my role for the side.”
Once two of the AFL’s raging bulls, Fyfe and O’Meara are no longer the headline acts at Fremantle. Instead, the pair have taken it upon themselves to evolve, Fyfe as a defensive midfielder and O’Meara as an outside runner.
As a member of the club’s leadership group, O’Meara said a big part of his role is now bringing along the next generation of Dockers.
“I’ve experienced the same thing earlier on in my career,” he said. “I had guys like Michael Rischitelli around me who tried to help me become a better player.
“I see myself as that now as does Fyfey, Sonny Walters, Matt Taberner with our forwards. That’s just what you do as an AFL footballer with a bit more experience. You want to help the others around you grow and teach them lessons that you’ve learnt along the way.
“I feel like there’s something special about this group. They’re extremely driven and talented. You match those two things together and hopefully, success is coming to our way but we need to continue to stick to the process.”
O’Meara first came head-to-head with his former side in round eight last year, a game Fremantle won by 69 points at Optus Stadium. It was the second time he had renewed hostilities with an old club, facing Gold Coast in his third game as a Hawk in 2017.
But according to O’Meara, memories fade and his sudden exit from Hawthorn won’t be any additional source of motivation he returns to Launceston as a Docker, and wingman, on Saturday.
“I haven’t thought about it to be honest,” he said. “You move on pretty quickly in footy.
“It’s been 18 months if not longer since I’ve been at the club. You never stay stagnant. You’re always trying to evolve.
“I loved my time at Hawthorn and still have good friendships there but I haven’t thought too much about the emotion of the game just yet.
“Maybe the first game coming up against your old team, there’s a little bit of emotion. But I just see them as another team now. I might have a bit of a laugh out there but as I do every week, I just want to win.
“They’ve been in super form. They’re probably the in-form team in the competition. They’re a completely different side to what they were at the start of the season.
“I know they’ll be wanting to bounce back after their loss to Geelong and they’ll be setting themselves for us.”
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