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Fremantle's milestone-man Jaeger O'Meara not happy

3 minute read

Jaeger O'Meara will notch his 150-game milestone in Saturday's clash with Brisbane, but the Fremantle midfielder isn't happy with his own form.

JAEGER O'MEARA of the Hawks. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

Fremantle recruit Jaeger O'Meara concedes he's been too passive this year, but hopes there are blue skies ahead for both himself and the Dockers.

O'Meara landed at Fremantle during last year's trade period and was soon elevated into the club's leadership group.

The former Sun and Hawks midfielder will notch his 150-game milestone in Saturday's clash with Brisbane at the Gabba.

The match looms as a crucial fork-in-the-road moment for Fremantle, who are in 13th spot after opening the season with a 2-4 record.

O'Meara's arrival at the Dockers was widely applauded as a way to replace star midfielder David Mundy, who retired at the end of last season.

But O'Meara is yet to hit his straps, with the 29-year-old clearance machine averaging a career-low 18.5 possessions per game.

His average of 4.67 clearances a game is the lowest since his first season at Hawthorn in 2017.

"I certainly haven't been playing as well as I would have liked," O'Meara told reporters on Thursday.

"That's not just because I'm at a new club, that's just because I haven't been playing that well.

"I'm looking forward to turning my season around and having more of an impact."

O'Meara is determined to step it up in the contest, an area where Fremantle have struggled all season.

"I've been a little bit passive myself in terms of the contest and maybe trying to do everything right and not actually just going and hunting the ball," he said.

"As the team has, I've probably had patches where I've played some good little bits of footy but haven't been consistent over four quarters yet."

Fremantle skipper Alex Pearce has been widely criticised after his error-riddled display in last week's 49-point loss to the Bulldogs.

O'Meara leapt to the defence of the under-fire skipper, who a week earlier performed an excellent shutdown role on star Gold Coast forward Ben King.

"I don't think he's out of form at all," O'Meara said.

O'Meara has played in just one final during his 11-year career, missing out on another one through injury.

The Dockers were being tipped to challenge for premiership success this year, but they now face an uphill battle just to make the finals.

O'Meara isn't giving up hope of experiencing team success before his career is out.

"I've still got another three-and-a-half years left on this contract, so hopefully there's some blue skies ahead and some success there," he said.