Jaeger O'Meara

Jaeger O'Meara (born 23 February 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Gold Coast Suns from 2013 to 2016. O'Meara won the AFL Rising Star award in his first season in 2013.

Jaeger O'Meara
O'Meara playing for Hawthorn in 2019
Personal information
Full name Jaeger O'Meara
Date of birth (1994-02-23) 23 February 1994
Place of birth Dongara, Western Australia
Original team(s) Perth (WAFL)
Draft No. 1, 2011 mini-draft
Debut Round 1, 2013, Gold Coast
vs. St Kilda, at Metricon Stadium
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 84 kg (185 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club Hawthorn
Number 10
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2013–2016 Gold Coast 044 (27)
2017– Hawthorn 060 (29)
Total 104 (56)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2020 season.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life

O'Meara was a former student of Nagle Catholic College in Geraldton.[1] O'Meara began playing football for Railways Football Club in the Great Northern Football League. He competed for the Railways senior team in their 2010 GNFL Grand Final win and lined up on future Gold Coast Suns teammate Jack Martin. He was awarded the Guardian Medal for his best on ground performance at 16 years of age.[2] O'Meara was then recruited by the Perth Football Club for the 2011 WAFL season and made his senior debut in August.

AFL career

Gold Coast (2013–2016)

O'Meara was recruited by Gold Coast with the first selection in the 2011 mini draft, a special draft of players who were too young to be eligible for selection in the main 2011 AFL Draft. Gold Coast obtained the first selection in the mini draft by trading their first selection, the fourth overall, to the new Greater Western Sydney team.[3]

As part of the mini-draft rules, O'Meara was unable to play for the Gold Coast Suns in the 2012 season, but did play for them in the 2012 NAB Cup preseason competition and then with the reserve team in the North East Australian Football League.[4] He underwent groin surgery that prevented him from playing for the rest of the season.[5]

O'Meara made his debut in the opening round of the 2013 AFL season and was rewarded with the round 5 nomination for the 2013 AFL Rising Star after recording 25 disposals, five marks, four tackles and two goals in the forty-four point win against Greater Western Sydney.[6] He re-signed with the Suns for a further two seasons midway during the year.[7] After playing every game for the Suns during his debut season, he was subsequently named the NAB AFL Rising Star for 2013.[8] Since making his debut in 2013, O'Meara did not miss a game in 2013 and 2014, playing all possible 44 games during that period.

He had an unfortunate start to the 2015 season, as he injured his knee in a NEAFL scratch match that required extensive surgery.[9] More surgery was required for his patella tendon that eventually resulted in him missing the entire 2015 and 2016 seasons through injury.[10]

Hawthorn (2017–present)

O'Meara requested a trade from Gold Coast in August 2016.[11] In September, he nominated Hawthorn as his preferred destination.[12] He was officially traded to Hawthorn in October.[13] O'Meara had an injury-plagued first season at Hawthorn, managing only six games due to ongoing knee problems. O'Meara's knee improved considerably by 2018, and he became a standard fixture in Hawthorn's midfield for that season and 2019. Due to Tom Mitchell's injury preventing him from participating in the latter season, O'Meara was widely seen as Hawthorn's most effective midfielder.[14][15]

O'Meara was named was named as one of Hawthorn's two Vice-Captains prior to the 2020 season, along with Mitchell.[16] O'Meara broke his hand in Round 12 of the season, causing him to miss four games.[17]

Statistics
Statistics are correct to the end of the 2020 season.[18]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
AFL playing statistics
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2013Gold Coast1 221611231245476971110.70.510.511.121.64.45.04
2014Gold Coast1 22117268204472771420.50.312.29.321.43.56.41
2015Gold Coast1 0——————————————0
2016Gold Coast1 0——————————————0
2017Hawthorn10 614418812912240.20.76.814.721.52.04.01
2018Hawthorn10 21168266238504791140.80.412.711.324.03.85.413
2019Hawthorn10 21811327214541761230.40.515.610.225.83.65.911
2020[lower-alpha 1]Hawthorn10 124414011025035490.30.311.79.220.82.94.13
Career 10456451273110023733765640.50.412.210.622.83.65.433

Notes

  1. The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honours and achievements

Individual

References
  1. "Notable Alumni". Nagle Catholic College. Archived from the original on 23 October 2016.
  2. Clark, Jay (13 March 2014). "Country footy's baptism of fire for Gold Coast's young gems Jaeger O'Meara and Jack Martin". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  3. Paton, Al; Windley, Matt (12 October 2011). "Gold Coast lands Jaeger O'Meara in deal with GWS". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  4. "The Jaeger Master". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  5. Smart, Nick (2 July 2012). "Suns' gun Jaeger O'Meara to go under knife". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
  6. Davidson, Ryan (30 April 2013). "Jaeger wows them early". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  7. Davis, Greg (18 July 2013). "Jaeger O'Meara re-signs with Gold Coast Suns until at least the end of the 2016 AFL season". Fox Sports (Australia). News Corp Australia. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  8. Brodie, Will (4 September 2013). "Jaeger O'Meara win Rising Star Award". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  9. Hamilton, Andrew (16 May 2015). "Jaegar O'Mears is recovering from a horrific knee injury but he can now see the light". The Courier-Mail.
  10. Courier-Mail Staff (10 August 2016). "Jaegar O'Mears to have season ending surgery". The Courier-Mail.
  11. Davis, Greg (25 August 2016). "Jaeger O'Meara requests trade from Gold Coast". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  12. Cherny, Daniel (13 September 2016). "Gold Coast Suns Jaeger O'Meara chooses Hawthorn as destination club". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  13. Ryan, Peter (20 October 2016). "Hawks land star Sun Jaeger O'Meara in last-minute trade deal". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  14. "Season snapshot: Jaeger O'Meara". Hawthorn Football Club. 24 October 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  15. McGowan, Mark (14 April 2019). "O'Meara, circa 2019: How Hawk has hit career-best numbers". Australian Football League. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  16. Canil, Jourdan (6 February 2020). "Some changes at the top as Hawks name new leaders". Australian Football League. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  17. "Season Spotlight: Jaeger O'Meara". Hawthorn Football Club. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  18. "Jaeger O'Meara". AFL Tables. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
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