Old mates, new stage

Fremantle midfielder Jaeger O’Meara says being named in the Western Australian State of Origin squad is a lifelong dream come true.

O’Meara was announced in the Western Australian squad on Tuesday alongside childhood great mate Stephen Coniglio, whom he last played with for WA at the State Under-18 National Championships some 15 years ago.

Speaking at a media conference on Thursday morning, O’Meara said the call-up and reunion were an honour.

“It is really special to be able to share it with Cogs (Coniglio) next week,” O’Meara said.

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“It’s been 15 years since we played together. We’ve always dreamt of playing together in the AFL and that hasn’t come to fruition, but we’ll get an opportunity to do so next week.

“It’s pretty cool, a couple of young kids from when we last played together, and now we’re both older and have kids of our own, so it’ll be special.

“We’ve had our ups and downs throughout our careers, and we’ve both helped each other through the downs mainly, and then been supportive when we’ve had ups as well.

“I think being in similar industries and having similar issues, mainly with injury, has been the biggest thing keeping us so close, just supporting each other through that.

“We don’t even see each other too often, but when we do, it’s like we saw each other yesterday.

“He was my best man at my wedding, so yeah, it’ll be cool to share it with him next week.”

The 200-gamer from Dongara in country WA says he is passionate about pulling on the black swan for Western Australia, believing the WA squad will be hungry despite donning the underdog mantle.

“I feel like this game will have a fair bit of extra spice in it,” O’Meara said.

“We’re probably going in as underdogs. So yeah, all I’ve heard from the players involved is that they’re wanting to have a red-hot crack and put on a show for the people who will be there and those watching on the broadcast.

“Hopefully Crippa (WA captain Patrick Cripps) and Dean Cox (WA head coach) can give us a bit of a rev-up and get us into it.

“They (Victoria) look very good on paper.

“They’ve got a plethora of talent on their list, but as I said before, we’re going in as underdogs, and we’ve got plenty of talent on our list as well.

“If I know anything about the WA boys, they all like to have a crack in the contest, and that’s what we’ll try and do.”

Fremantle have five players named for next Saturday’s February 14 State of Origin clash.

WA:

Jordan Clark

Shai Bolton

Luke Jackson

Jaeger O’Meara

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Old mates, new stage