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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). He previously played for the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

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 Hawth ...

from 2017 to 2022. O'Meara won the

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 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

award in his first season in 2013.

Early life

O'Meara was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

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 language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

. 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, Western Australia, Geraldton in Western Australia, which was formed in 1961 as a merger of the Geraldton Football Association and the Nor ...

. 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, Lathlain, Western Australia, currently playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). R ...

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 eig ...

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. 2013 09 28 AFL Grand Final 0135-topaz-denoise-sharpen

2013 09 28 AFL Grand Final 0135-topaz-denoise-sharpen

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 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–present)

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 club's leadership group. O’Meara played his first game for Fremantle in the opening round of the

2023 AFL season The 2023 AFL season was the 127th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 18 clubs and ran from 16 March to 30 September, comprising a 23-m ...

against , collecting 19 disposals and 13 handballs during the match. He kicked two goals and collected 21 disposals the next week, against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

Optus Stadium Perth Stadium, commercially known as Optus Stadium due to sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the Burswood, Western Australia, Burswood suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was completed during late 2017 and officially opened ...

Personal life

O'Meara became engaged to Tory Packer in December 2022. They married in December 2023.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2024 season''. , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , , , 1 , 22 , , 16 , , 11 , , 231 , , 245 , , 476 , , 97 , , 111 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 10.5 , , 11.1 , , 21.6 , , 4.4 , , 5.0 , , 4 , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , , , 1 , 22 , , 11 , , 7 , , 268 , , 204 , , 472 , , 77 , , 142 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 12.2 , , 9.3 , , 21.4 , , 3.5 , , 6.4 , , 1 , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , , , 1 , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , 0 , - ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , , , 10 , 6 , , 1 , , 4 , , 41 , , 88 , , 129 , , 12 , , 24 , , 0.2 , , 0.7 , , 6.8 , , 14.7 , , 21.5 , , 2.0 , , 4.0 , , 1 , - ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , , , 10 , 21 , , 16 , , 8 , , 266 , , 238 , , 504 , , 79 , , 114 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 12.7 , , 11.3 , , 24.0 , , 3.8 , , 5.4 , , 13 , - ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , , , 10 , 21 , , 8 , , 11 , , 327 , , 215 , , 542 , , 76 , , 123 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 15.6 , , 10.2 , , 25.8 , , 3.6 , , 5.9 , , 11 , - ,

2020 The year 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 even ...

, , , , 10 , 12 , , 4 , , 4 , , 140 , , 110 , , 250 , , 35 , , 50 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 11.7 , , 9.2 , , 20.8 , , 2.9 , , 4.2 , , 3 , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , , , 10 , 18 , , 5 , , 9 , , 232 , , 241 , , 473 , , 74 , , 91 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 12.9 , , 13.4 , , 26.3 , , 4.1 , , 5.1 , , 11 , - ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, , , , 10 , 21 , , 9 , , 9 , , 230 , , 197 , , 427 , , 74 , , 105 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 11.0 , , 9.4 , , 20.3 , , 3.5 , , 5.0 , , 2 , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , , , 2 , 21 , , 7 , , 3 , , 186 , , 225 , , 411 , , 55 , , 102 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 8.9 , , 10.7 , , 19.6 , , 2.6 , , 4.9 , , 1 , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , , , 2 , 22 , , 8 , , 8 , , 183 , , 154 , , 337 , , 79 , , 63 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 8.3 , , 7.0 , , 15.3 , , 3.6 , , 2.9 , , , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 186 !! 85 !! 74 !! 2104 !! 1916 !! 4020 !! 658 !! 927 !! 0.5 !! 0.4 !! 11.3 !! 10.3 !! 21.6 !! 3.5 !! 5.0 !! 47 Notes

Honours and achievements

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

* AFLPA best first year player: 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 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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 Fremantle Football Club players