Fremantle midfielder Jaeger O'Meara says Nat Fyfe will have an influence wherever he plays

That’s according to Fremantle midfield Jaeger O'Meara, who not only coexisted but thrived with Nat Fyfe at his side in a final quarter midfield demolition against Hawthorn en route to a 69-point win.

Starting as the sub for his first game since round one, Fyfe was injected into the game late in the third quarter. In a clear change of plan from his sole appearance against St Kilda this season, Fyfe split his time between the midfield and forward line on his way to 10 disposals and a goal.

Coach Justin Longmuir indicated post-match that Fyfe will continue to play across both lines after a successful return despite being flagged as a permanent forward earlier in the year. And O’Meara, who like Fyfe thrives at contested football, is excited by the prospect of sharing midfield duties with the two-time Brownlow medallist.

The duo attended three of the seven centre bounces together in the final term, winning all three clearances while paired up. That’s despite the Dockers trailing Hawthorn 12-3 in centre clearances at halftime.

“There was a big roar from the crowd when he came on. You realise just how big of an influence he’s had on the Freo faithful,” O’Meara told CODE Sports. “He’s a great player. He’s done an enormous amount for the game. You walk a little bit taller when he’s out there on the ground.

“If he’s going to come into the midfield and be in that mix, obviously he’s a great player so I think wherever we put him on the field, he’s going to have an influence. If that’s in the midfield or up forward, he’s a hard match-up for anyone.

“Hopefully his body can stay healthy and we can play some more footy with him.”

Playing against his former side for the first time since being traded to Fremantle, O’Meara saved his best game this season for Hawthorn. The 29-year-old collected a season-high 26 disposals, which included six clearances, seven marks and five tackles.

A tough conversation with former coach Sam Mitchell was the catalyst behind O’Meara's last-minute trade request despite intending to see out the remaining year of his contract. So unlike Rory Lobb’s return to Optus Stadium earlier in the season, O’Meara's reunion with the Hawks was emotional but considerably less hostile.

“It wasn’t an exit where I was pushed out or I really wanted to leave. I left on good terms. I still have a lot of really good relationships at the footy club and it’s a great footy club. They treat their people really well. But I’m super happy to be back home in Perth around my family and playing for the purple army,” he said.

“I was in contact with a few of the guys before the game. I didn’t want to chat too much to them. We’d obviously only won two games prior to this one so I just wanted to win regardless of who we were playing against. But there might have been a bit of extra motivation for this one.”

O’Meara did concede the Dockers have work to do in the middle after a lopsided clearance count in the first half. But a crucial adjustment on the run ensured Fremantle could minimise the damage.

“I know that they do a lot of work on centre bounces. They’ve got two really good ruckmen who, especially at centre bounce, can get some dominance,” he said.

“They’ve had that against most teams this season. We knew if we could try and break even and make their exits ‘dirty exits’ so we could allow our backs to defend the ball, we knew we’d have a good chance of winning it back.

“We had a different mix going through there as well with a few different players going through centre bounces. Although we lost numbers-wise, I don’t think their exits were as clean as they would’ve liked them to be.”

Fremantle also generated confidence from its fast start, winning a first quarter for the first time this season, and skill execution as the Dockers kicked their highest score this season of 18.9 (117). It’s also the club’s biggest tally since 2019.

Combined with a season-high pressure output, O‘Meara said it was Fremantle’s most consistent performance to date.

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“It helps when you get off to a good start. We haven’t been able to do that for the first seven rounds of the season so far,” he said. “To be in front at quarter time and put some scoreboard pressure on certainly helped. But I think our contest and pressure was back to where we want it to be.

“Most of it was our pressure and ability to execute going forward. We’ve missed a lot of opportunities with our skills and the fundamentals of the game … missing handballs and kicks. If you turn it over, the opposition can score against you heavily. When you execute, you get opportunities to score.

“One thing that hasn’t changed for us is the way we train. We’ve been training as hard as possible. Our main training sessions have been at a really high level. We just haven’t been able to do that on game day for whatever reason.”