Jaeger O'Meara's comeback from a knee injury has hit yet another hurdle, with the Gold Coast AFL midfielder ruled out of action for six weeks.
O'Meara was aiming to play in the opening round of the NEAFL after rupturing his patella tendon in April last year, but coach Rodney Eade on Thursday revealed the 23-year-old recently went under the knife again for an arthroscope.
Eade says the procedure has pushed O'Meara's return date back to at least "round four or five" of the NEAFL, meaning he won't be seen at AFL level until at least a couple of weeks after that.
It comes just days after fellow midfielder David Swallow had been ruled out for the first half of the season, having also had problems with his troublesome left knee.
"He had a bit of a scan of the tendon, and it's pristine and has good strength, but he had a flap on his patella and he had an arthroscope to trim that and it put him back a couple of weeks," Eade told AFL.com.au's First Bounce program.
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"He'll be back running next week.
"We'd like to think he could start playing some football, obviously the NEAFL first up, probably round four or five."
Eade said O'Meara, the 2013 winner of the NAB Rising Star award, was still in a "good head space" despite the setback.
O'Meara hasn't been seen at AFL level since the final round of the 2014 season, having missed all of last year due to knee issues.
