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Hawthorn star Jaeger O'Meara takes it one half at a time after nearly 30 months out

Daniel Cherny

When you haven't played an AFL game in more than 29 months, it might seem unwise to predict what will happen in five weeks' time. So while Jaeger O'Meara is excited ahead of his return to big-time footy, he doesn't want to speculate on whether he'll play in round one.

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"I'm not too sure. I'd love to say yes but I'm not too sure. I just want to get through this game first and foremost, obviously, pull up well and see how we go after that," O'Meara told Fairfax Media at a Launceston school visit on Thursday.

O'Meara played a handful of games for Gold Coast in the NEAFL last year, but his last senior appearance for the Suns came in the final round of 2014. Back then, Guy McKenna was Gold Coast coach, and Hawthorn hadn't yet won the second of their three straight flags. Now, McKenna's replacement Rodney Eade has entered the final year of his contract at the Suns, and the Hawks – O'Meara's home since October – have been de-throned, not to mention that significant change has swept through Waverley.

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Yet still O'Meara waits. At least in a sense though, that wait is set to end on Friday night at the recently re-named University of Tasmania Stadium, when the Hawks face Geelong in what is both sides' first appearance in the also recently re-named JLT Community Series.

O'Meara (still the same name, although he has changed clubs) said he is due to play "close to half a game" against Geelong. He received the good news from the Hawks' high performance chief Andrew Russell after getting through an intra-club practice match last week. "I'm excited," O'Meara said.

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"Obviously it's been a long time since I've played senior footy and although it's just a pre-season game it'll be good to play with my new teammates."

So much has been made of O'Meara, and more specifically his knee. The West Australian's recovery from his patella tendon issues has been the subject of mixed reports in recent weeks. Round four had been one mooted comeback date. Later the club hinted that a pre-season taster for O'Meara was not necessarily a prerequisite for a round-one appearance against Essendon. Then on Wednesday came the Hawks' squad for their pre-season opener, and O'Meara's name was there.

So what had the man himself been thinking when he was traded four months ago as part of a complex and drawn-out deal between the Hawks and the Suns? "I was pretty confident that I'd be playing senior footy pretty soon. Obviously I had that little clean out at the end of last season, and ever since then it's been feeling really good. I'm really confident that my knee will stand up and firstly get this first pre-season game out of the way."

The reasons for the immense interest in O'Meara's knee are several-fold. For one, there is his price. After trading for O'Meara and fellow midfielder Tom Mitchell (from Sydney), the Hawks were left without a pick in the first four rounds of last year's national draft, and don't have a first-round pick this year either. Then there is O'Meara's quality. In his Rising Star-winning year of 2013 Essendon great Tim Watson claimed O'Meara could become the greatest midfielder in history.  That the fight for his services was keenly contested is no surprise on exposed form. Thirdly – and perhaps most importantly from the outside – is the fact O'Meara is effectively going to help fill the midfield void left by four-time premiership heroes Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis, who were stunningly traded to West Coast and Melbourne respectively days before O'Meara became a Hawk.

But rather than concern himself with comparisons, O'Meara says all he can do is be the best version of himself. "I haven't been involved when Jordan and Sam have been involved at the club, so I don't really know any different. I'm not worried about it.

"I feel as if I'm just like every other bloke at Hawthorn. I'm one of their teammates and one of 44 or whatever the list size is."

Other than Jono O'Rourke and Tom Mitchell – with whom he spent time as a junior – O'Meara barely knew any of those 40-odd other guys before he joined the club. But he says what he has seen has impressed him. "I came in with open eyes, and didn't really want to assume anything about anyone," he said.

"Obviously they're all very successful people and they're still really driven to succeed so that's probably the main thing I've noticed. Just the drive to succeed again. That's something that I'm hoping to be a part of in the future. There's no egos at Hawthorn, and that's a really good thing."

O'Meara has high praise, in particular, for the people skills of the man with whom he will share a comeback on Friday night – inspirational captain Jarryd Roughead, as well as coach Alastair Clarkson, who O'Meara says still has some new tricks up his sleeve even as he enters his 13th season at the helm. "He's obviously a very successful coach, and will probably go down as one of the best in the AFL when he's finished up, but he's not afraid to try new things, and we'll try out a few new things in this pre-season competition."

O'Meara hasn't forgotten his former club though, with whom he isn't sure if he could have got back to the senior team late last year if the Suns had been in finals contention. He is again living with former Suns forward Luke Russell, and says he is catching up weekly with Dion Prestia – also new to Melbourne after an October move to Richmond. "Obviously I've formed some really good bonds and friendships with people up there, not only playing group but people involved in the coaching staff and the broader staff. That was the hardest thing about leaving. I'll continue to be friends with them and we'll catch up when we can."

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