Jaeger O'Meara (born 23 February 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (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 t ...

from 2013 to 2016, and the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of H ...

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 list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

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 ...

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 Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

. O'Meara began playing senior 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

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 metropo ...

for the 2011 WAFL season 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 preseason competition and then with the reserve team in the

North East Australian Football League The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural ...

. 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 ei ...

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 . 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 ...

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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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

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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 Ma ...

: 2013 * AFLCA best young player of the year: 2014 * 2×

Peter Crimmins Medal The Peter Crimmins Medal is an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) from the Hawthorn Football Club deemed best and fairest for the season. Peter Crimmins was a rover for Hawthorn, playing from 1966 to 1975. He died of cancer j ...

(Third-place): 2019, 2021 * 22under22 team: 2013 * Under 18 All-Australian team: 2011

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