Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has been suitably impressed by the way Jaeger O’Meara has gone about his first pre-season with the club.
The 28-year-old midfielder joined the Dockers from Hawthorn in the trade period as one of three recruits from other clubs alongside Luke Jackson and Josh Corbett.
O’Meara has quickly made an impression at Freo with his new coach praising his professionalism, describing the former Gold Coast Sun as “first class”.
“He couldn’t have been more impressive, to be honest, since he’s come to the club,” Longmuir said on SEN WA Mornings.
“He’s really keen to learn our game plan and everything he has done he has done like a pro.
“Whether that’s in the gym, out on the track running or just the huge efforts in skill drills, he’s been first class in everything he has done so he’s made a really good impression on everyone at the footy club.
“We hope he can string some of his best footy together because he’s going to be a good attribute for us on and off the field.”
O’Meara, who has played 143 AFL games, will step into an already top-quality Dockers midfield which will endeavour to frequently feed the forward line.
That attacking group has lost last season’s leading goalkicker Rory Lobb but will regularly gain developing top-10 draftee Jye Amiss as well as the promising Josh Treacy in 2023.
Longmuir says the Dockers are looking towards the promising pair to lead the way up front alongside the oft-injured Matt Taberner with support from depth recruit Corbett.
“We have got high hopes of both of those players (Amiss and Treacy),” Longmuir added.
“JT’s (Treacy’s) season didn’t go the way he wanted it to last year, but I thought he delivered some really good performances at the back end of the season.
“I think we’re all pretty excited about what Jye Amiss did last year.
“We’ve also brought Josh Corbett into the mix. He is a bit shorter than Lobby (Rory Lobb) but can be really strong in the contest and also provide a good leading option for us.
“He comes at the footy really well.”
With the players at his disposal, Longmuir plans to improve the connection between that midfield and forward line which he admits fell down at times as Freo returned to finals in 2022.
“Something that came out of the back-end of last year was that we just weren’t connecting enough,” he said further.
“So, omitting the three players we just mentioned, we’ve got players (such as Lachie Schultz, Michael Walters, Michael Frederick and Bailey Banfield) who have got some forward craft but also come at the footy really well and force defenders to descend leads.
“We’ve got some options there, we’re going to be a little bit more mobile down forward next year rather than a little bit taller at times last season.
“So that will give us more opportunities to connect going inside 50.”
The Dockers finished the home and away season in fifth position in 2022 before winning an Elimination Final over the Western Bulldogs.
Their season was then ended at the hands of Collingwood in an MCG Semi Final.
Lobb, now with the Dogs, topped the goal chart on 36, ahead of Schultz (30), Frederick (28), Walters (25) and Taberner (23).