Hawthorn midfielder Jaeger O'Meara is likely to become a GWS player before the end of the trade period according to AFL Media’s Damian Barrett.
With Tom Mitchell “tracking well” to join Collingwood, Barrett expects O’Meara to follow him out of Waverley as the Giants prepare for life after Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto departed the club.
While the Giants are keen on recruiting O’Meara, Barrett believes they “would be reluctant” to pay even any of the 28-year-old's existing contract which has one year to run at Hawthorn.
If Hawthorn does stump up O’Meara’s existing deal, Barrett believes the Giants would have to offer him a contract beyond the 2023 season which they foot the bill for.
“It is tracking well for Mitchell to end up at Collingwood, as it is for Jaeger O’Meara to end up at GWS from Hawthorn,” Barrett said on AFL Trade Radio.
“As we said the way that was unfolding the Giants would be reluctant to pay any, quite possibly any of the wage for O’Meara to play next year.
“He’s obviously contracted as a Hawks player and there’d be a draft pick attached to it.
“I don’t claim to know what pick it is, I was under the assumption it might have been one of the early ones that the Giants have still got but it might be later than that.
“They’d need to offer him more than the one year he had on the contract.”
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With GWS receiving pick 31 plus a future first-rounder from Richmond for Jacob Hopper, Barrett pondered whether that later selection is what heads to Hawthorn in an O’Meara deal.
“That deal has just gone down officially, maybe that’s what’s going back to the Hawks,” Barrett said.
“The Brownlow medallist and the big recruit from the Gold Coast Suns all those years ago seem to be out the door before the trade period expires tomorrow night.”
O’Meara has played 143 career games since making his debut in 2013 for Gold Coast, with 93 of them coming for Hawthorn since 2017.
The midfielder originally landed at Waverley Park for a first and second-round pick in the 2016 trade period.