The difference this time is that the Cats faithful used to cheering for him, will hoping his impact on the contest is minimal as Ablett returns to lead the Gold Coast SUNS into battle.
But premiership defender Harry Taylor told geelongcats.com.au the man his side had done extra homework on leading into the clash was in fact Jaeger O’Meara, with the 32-game swingman describing O’Meara as “An absolute emerging star.”
The 25-year-old Taylor said getting on top of O’Meara early was crucial for the home side as they look to celebrate the Club’s 624th match at Simonds Stadium and their 1st under lights with a win over the Gold Coasters.
“It’s important that we get on top of him early because he’s going to be a future star of the competition and a future star for the Gold Coast SUNS, so we need to make sure that we can get on top of him early and give him some bad memories about playing the Cats.”
Already a fan favourite on the Gold Coast, O’Meara has been one of the shining lights for the GC SUNS in his debut season, a fact not lost on the second placed Cats.
“Jaeger O’Meara has many strengths, a couple being his ability to win the ball and play inside and outside, averaging 20.6 disposals a game this year so far in the nine games,” Taylor said.
“He is a tremendous talent and someone we’re going to have to pay a lot of attention to.”
It seems Geelong’s senior players have been impressed by Jaeger’s ability for some time with Taylor referencing his first encounter with the Gold Coaster at Metricon Stadium last year.
“He is also a very dangerous goal kicker averaging one goal a game, managed to kick a couple of goals against us in a NAB Cup game last year when he was ineligible to play for the AFL, so we know first hand how dangerous he can be.”
