Hawthorn midfielder Jaeger O’Meara says the nature of his injury history has meant that he was forced to take a gradual approach to pre-season.
O’Meara has had his best summer campaign since a knee injury momentarily stopped his career in its tracks in early 2015.
A new addition to the Hawthorn leadership group, the 25-year-old will now turn his attention to leading the Hawthorn midfield into battle this season.
“I think it’s been a natural progression (to build back to full fitness),” O’Meara said.
“This is my third full pre-season in a row now, so I think building those blocks has enabled me to have a pretty good pre-season.
“Hopefully that holds me in good stead for the year.”
Amassing 35 touches and a goal in the Hawks second JLT hit-out against Richmond, O’Meara turned heads across the football world on the back of his strong performance.
The former Gold Coast Sun earned two votes from rival club’s captains in their annual survey as they were asked to nominate a Brownlow Medal tip last week.
But the ever-modest O’Meara said the individual accolades weren’t what was motivating him on the eve of the 2019 season.
“Stratto was probably one of them so I should thank him,” O’Meara laughed.
“It’s nice and it’s humbling, but I’m not really focussed on that.
“It’s more about playing finals footy for me and I want to do that – that will be our aim again this year as it is every year.”
