New Hawk Jaeger O'Meara says he is confident his troublesome knee will hold up for the entire season after an impressive performance in his side's loss to North Melbourne yesterday.
O'Meara collected 22 disposals, seven clearances and kicked a goal in his second outing as a Hawthorn player and he now looks on track to be ready for round one after two years out of the game.
"It felt good, obviously it was my second hit-out so I blew out some more cobwebs. It's good to get some consistency and play two games in a row. I am confident in the knee," O'Meara said.
“It didn’t feel like it had beaten me at any stage. I always felt like, or I had that self-belief that I was going to get back to playing footy — it was just matter of when.
"Obviously I haven't played too much footy in the past couple of years so it's nice to play a full game out and play two in a row.
"I was confident I would be playing footy pretty quickly but I'm just taking it as it comes and pleasingly everything is going really well at the moment. This is just how I am. This is my body. I have had a knee injury and I will continue to look after that and see how it goes but I'm confident I will play consistent footy this year."
O'Meara said his knee is so far feeling pain free after his first two practice matches.
“It felt good,” he said.
“I’m confident I’ve done a lot of training over the last two years and over the preseason so I am confident in the knee.
“It’s all about the build up to round one and the season ahead, but not just Round 1 but the whole year.
“I want to play consistent footy. I feel like it’s going well at the moment and hopefully it keeps going well.”
Fellow new recruits Tom Mitchell (26 disposals) and Ty Vickery (two goals, 17 disposals) also impressed in the 21-point loss to the Roos.
