When Jaeger O'Meara boarded a flight back to Perth after attending the wedding of his great mate Stephen Coniglio, he had no idea his life was about to change dramatically.
The talented midfielder, who had spent a decade playing for eastern state clubs, was unexpectedly presented with an opportunity to return to his home state of Western Australia and don the iconic purple of the Fremantle Football Club.
"I wasn't expecting that one," O'Meara recalls, reflecting on the whirlwind trade that brought him back to WA on the Better Down Back Podcast, powered by MyPlace.
"I still had a year left on my contract with the Hawks, so I was just expecting to come home to WA for the off-season, get stuck into my off-season training program, and be back at the Hawks next year."
However, fate had other plans. With the trade period looming, O'Meara found himself at a crossroads. A four-year deal on the table and an opportunity to play alongside great mate Coniglio at the GWS Giants, or a return home to be reunited with family at a Club he had once dreamed of playing for as a young prospect in Fremantle.
“As an AIS athlete you get to train for a week with an AFL Club and I got to train with Freo.
“I was 16 getting to stay with two legends of the footy Club, who were extremely good players at AFL level so that was just awesome.
“I always had in the back of my mind ‘it would be cool to play for Freo’ if I was ever to come home and play.”
Ultimately, the decision to return home was not just about football, it was deeply personal. O’Meara’s father-in-law, Ron, was battling Non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the time, and the family, particularly wife Tori were facing the constant challenge of splitting time between Melbourne and Perth to be alongside her father.
"My wife Tori was traveling a lot between Melbourne and Perth with him going through that battle," O'Meara explains.
“We had that going on and I didn’t want to make her choose between me or him and where she spent her time because obviously, she wanted to be around me but then she also wanted to be around her father who was on his death bed as well.
"It was a rough period of time for us, so it just made a whole lot of sense for us to come back home."
The move to Fremantle allowed O'Meara to be there for his family during a critical time.
"I'm so grateful for Freo bringing me back home and being able to spend time with him because we got the last three months of his life, and we were able to spend a lot of time with him," he says.
"I wouldn't change it for the world."
Now, as he settles into life as a Freo Docker, O'Meara is excited about the future. At 30 years old, he brings valuable experience and leadership to a young, talented squad.
"We've got some amazing people at the Club, and it feels like a really special group as well," he says.
"We've got the talent here but also the hard work to match it."
As he looks to the future, O'Meara is driven by the prospect of bringing success to his new Club.
"Hopefully we can bring a premiership to our Freo faithful as well," he says, echoing the dreams of Fremantle fans everywhere.
For O'Meara, the move to Fremantle represents more than just a change of Clubs. It's a homecoming, a chance to be close to family, and an opportunity to be part of something special.
