Jaeger O'Meara (born 23 February 1994) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). He previously played for the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

from 2013 to 2016, and the Hawthorn Football Club from 2017 to 2022. O'Meara won the AFL Rising Star award in his first season in 2013.

Early life

O'Meara was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Hawthorn star Jaeger O’Meara on reaching 100 games, his move to the Hawks and adjusting to Melbourne life
/ref> to parents Non and Wayne. His parents moved to Dongara where his grandparents had a hotel and played junior football with the Dongara Eagles. He studied at Nagle Catholic College in Geraldton. O'Meara began playing senior football for Railways Football Club in the

Great Northern Football League The Great Northern Football League is an Australian rules football league centred on the city of Geraldton Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of We ...

. He competed for the Railways senior team in their 2010 GNFL Grand Final win and lined up on future

teammate Jack Martin. He was awarded the Guardian Medal for his best on ground performance at 16 years of age. O'Meara was then recruited by the

Perth Football Club The Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is an Australian rules football club based in Lathlain, Western Australia, currently playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Representing the south-east area of the Perth metropol ...

for the

2011 WAFL season The 2011 WAFL season was the 127th season of the West Australian Football League and its various incarnations. The season opened on 19 March, with defeating by 15 points at Steel Blue Oval, and concluded with the 2011 WAFL Grand Final, with ...

and made his senior debut in August.

AFL career

Gold Coast (2012–2016)

O'Meara was recruited by 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 team. 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 The 2012 NAB Cup was the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition played before the 2012 home-and-away season. The games were played between 17 February and 18 March 2012. The competition format was changed for the second cons ...

preseason competition and then with the reserve team in the North East Australian Football League. He underwent groin surgery that prevented him from playing for the rest of the season. O'Meara made his debut in the opening round of the

2013 AFL season The 2013 AFL season was the 117th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eigh ...

and was rewarded with the round 5 nomination for the

2013 AFL Rising Star The NAB AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 seas ...

after recording 25 disposals, five marks, four tackles and two goals in the forty-four point win against . He re-signed with the Suns for a further two seasons midway during the year. After playing every game for the Suns during his debut season, he was subsequently named the NAB AFL Rising Star for 2013. 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. More surgery was required for his

patella tendon The patellar tendon is the distal portion of the common tendon of the quadriceps femoris, which is continued from the patella to the tibial tuberosity. It is also sometimes called the patellar ligament as it forms a bone to bone connection when t ...

that eventually resulted in him missing the entire 2015 and 2016 seasons through injury.

Hawthorn (2017–2022)

O'Meara requested a trade from Gold Coast in August 2016. In September, he nominated as his preferred destination. He was officially traded to Hawthorn in October. 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. O'Meara was named as one of Hawthorn's two Vice-Captains prior to the 2020 season, along with Mitchell. O'Meara broke his hand in Round 12 of the season, causing him to miss four games.

Fremantle (2023–)

Despite being contracted to Hawthorn for a further year, O'Meara attracted interest from multiple clubs during the 2022 trade period, with interest from GWS and Fremantle, who were seeking a senior player to add to their lists. O'Meara was eventually traded to , allowing him to return to his home state with a four year contract. Upon joining Fremantle O’Meara was promoted to the clubs leadership group. O’Meara played his first game for Fremantle in the opening round of the

2023 AFL season The 2023 AFL season is the 127th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season will fea ...

. He had 19 disposals and 13 handballs in their 15 point loss to . O'Meara kicked two goals the next round against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

Optus Stadium Perth Stadium, currently known as Optus Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Burswood. It was completed in late 2017 and officially opened on 21 January 2018. The s ...

Personal life

O'Meara became engaged to Tory Packer in December 2022.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of round 16, 2023''. , - ,

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2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

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2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

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2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

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2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

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Honours and achievements

Individual * vice-captain: 2020–2022 * Ron Evans Medal:

AFLPA best first year player The AFL Players Association (AFLPA) awards are a group of awards given annually to players in the Australian Football League, voted for by all AFL players. Main awards The AFLPA nominates the following four awards as their main awards. Leigh Mat ...

: 2013 * AFLCA best young player of the year: 2014 * 2× Peter Crimmins Medal (Third-place): 2019, 2021 * 22under22 team: 2013 * Under 18 All-Australian team:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Omeara, Jaeger 1994 births Australian people of Irish descent Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Gold Coast Football Club players Perth Football Club players AFL Rising Star winners People from Dongara, Western Australia Living people Hawthorn Football Club players Box Hill Football Club players