Gold Coast midfielder Jaeger O'Meara believes he can get back to his dynamic best after undergoing surgery on his creaking knees.
A degenerative patella tendon in each of the 20-year-old's knees forced him to barely train throughout the 2014 campaign, a situation he says cost him fitness and conditioning as the season dragged on.
Despite talk of being rested in the latter weeks of the campaign, O'Meara dragged his battered body through all 22 games of the Suns' season before heading to London last month to go under the surgeon's knife.
"I wasn't really able to train this year," the 2013 rising star told AAP.
"I was losing conditioning throughout the week.
"The only conditioning I was getting was doing cross-training because my knees weren't able to back up after a game.
"I was just off my legs for three to four days and then do a light training, mainly just hand skills and cross training.
"I felt like my fitness deteriorated throughout the season."
Statistically, O'Meara's woes had little impact on his performance.
The West Australian product posted similar numbers across the board to his debut campaign but the man himself feels his actual form was more up and down than the numbers would suggest.
"Pretty inconsistent, which was disappointing," he said.
"I had some good games and then some poor games when I wasn't finding the footy and I was a bit in and out of the game. This year I'll be working on trying to stay involved across the four quarters and not having those little lapses that I had in some games."
O'Meara's knee problems can never be fully cured, but he says the surgery went well and once he's completed rehab he'll be a in much better physical shape than he was in 2014.
He's also excited by the feeling among the Suns as they adapt to life under new coach Rodney Eade.
"The club's in a really good place and there's a really good vibe around the joint with our new recruits, our new coach," he said.
"The boys are really impressing on the track, which is pleasing."
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