Gold Coast youngster Jaeger O'Meara is hoping to debut in Round 1. Picture: Tim Marsden Source: The Courier-Mail
HE'S like a Christmas present that has sat under a tree for a year before it could be opened.
Jaeger O'Meara has become part of the furniture at Metricon Stadium over the past year, but it wasn't until he joined his Suns teammates for the first training session of 2013 yesterday that he was pressing for selection.
O'Meara was pre-listed by the Gold Coast as a 17-year-old at the end of 2011 in the GWS mini-draft but was ineligible to play until this season.
Had the Suns not chosen to give up the fourth pick in that draft to the Giants to warehouse him for 12 months, the West Australian midfielder would have been forced to wait for the 2012 draft when he would have most likely been the first name called.
But unlike Lachie Whitfield, who GWS made the No.1 pick last year, O'Meara has already completed two pre-seasons and played NAB Cup after receiving a special allowance by the AFL for last year's pre-season tournament.
So even though he is the same age as this year's intake, he turns 19 on the day the Suns begin the NAB Cup against Hawthorn and Brisbane, the expectations are he will play seniors often.
O'Meara has shouldered expectations ever since he was called the next Chris Judd as a 16-year-old and booted four goals in an impressive WAFL debut.
"I think that is more external pressure," he said.
"But having said that I do like a bit of pressure, I like feeling like I have to perform."
He never considered trading the experience of joining the AFL a year early for another 12 months of anonymity.
He stacked on an extra 7kg of muscle to an already impressive physique and had surgery to correct a chronic groin injury.
"Coming a year early really helped me focus on my development as a footballer," he said.
"I've been able to just concentrate on getting my body ready and have definitely benefited from being exposed to an elite environment.
"I am very grateful for that."
Suns coach Guy McKenna has been spoilt by elite teenage talent in his first two season as an AFL coach, but admits he spent the past year wishing he could select O'Meara and says there is no doubt he is ready to go.
"He certainly doesn't look his age, he looks like a man ready to play football," he said.
"He has done everything he can to give himself every chance to play Round 1."
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