Fremantle Docker Jaeger O’Meara and GWS Giant Stephen Coniglio are best mates who can’t wait for AFL Origin

Jaeger O’Meara and Stephen Coniglio were kids with stars in their eyes and dreams in their hearts when they last played footy together. When they line-up side by side for Western Australia on February 14, they’ll do so as men who have both played more than 200 AFL games and now have kids of their own. O’Meara and Coniglio played together just four times as teenagers, so have spent more than 5300 days waiting to do so again. Coniglio has spent his entire AFL career at Greater Western Sydney. O’Meara started at Gold Coast, moved to Hawthorn and then switched to Fremantle. Friendships get tested when you live in different states for 15 years. But this one has stood the test of time. “We are super tight,” O’Meara said. “We’ve had our ups and downs throughout our careers. We’ve helped each other through the downs and been supportive when we’ve had ups. “We don’t get to see each other too often but when we do it is like we saw each other yesterday. It’s a really nice relationship. He was the best man at my wedding. It will be cool to share it with him next week. “I saw him over Christmas. Him and his wife and two girls were over here for Christmas. I got to catch up with them then which was nice.” The beauty of this friendship is it wouldn’t have existed without footy. As a teen, O’Meara was known as the “Jaeger Bomb”. A precociously talented athlete with model looks from Dongara, Gold Coast were so mesmerised by his talent they snapped him up one year before he was eligible to enter the AFL draft, under special expansion rules. Then he justified that decision by wining the AFL Rising Star in his first season. Coniglio grew up 350km away and was freakishly talented at two sports. He kicked four goals in Swan Districts’ 2010 grand final during what was his fifth senior game as a 16-year-old. Then he captained at the 2011 Under 18 National championships and was named the best player in Australia. But Coniglio wasn’t just a footy star. He also represented his state at cricket. He scored a century in the final of the 2009 under 15 national titles and took three wickets in his first grade debut for Midland-Guildford. Most kids hope to be good enough to be a professional athlete. Coniglio got to choose which sport he wanted to play. He picked footy, the Giants drafted him at pick two and he went on to become the club’s captain. O’Meara said their talent and desperation to be AFL players drew them together. “We were trying to get the best out of ourselves,” O’Meara recalled. “I was a young kid from a small country town, three and a half hours north of Perth in Dongara. He was from Swan View. At that stage he was the best player of his age in WA. “I gravitated towards that because I was getting into a system where there was a bit more professionalism around it. i just wanted to follow guys. That’s how it started and our friendship blossomed. We’re still great mates. It’s a special relationship” O’Meara and Coniglio have travelled the world together and celebrated life’s biggest milestones side by side. That’s ironic because the last time the pair played for WA they wore numbers eight and nine. O’Meara wears number two for Fremantle. Coniglio is number three for the Giants. They have strong claims to be sitting in lockers which are side-by-side yet gain. West Coast forward Jake Waterman also wears number two. Newly appointed Eagles co-captain Liam Baker is number three. They could also ask for those jumpers. But there’s something romantic about O’Meara and Coniglio getting the nod. WA’s Origin team is filled with players who have been mates for a long time. Luke Jackson and Chad Warner played junior footy in the same time. Darcy Cameron and Tom Barrass won a colts flag together at Claremont. Kossie Pickett and Shai Bolton are super tight. Baker and Nathan Broad won premierships at Richmond. Origin footy is about passion. It’s about players coming together for one weekend with a common cause. While Western Australia will enter the game as underdogs, relationships matter. And there aren’t many players with a relationship as close as O’Meara and Coniglio. “We’re very similar people,” Coniglio told The West Australian last year. “We’ve always made time for each other. I’d go to Gold Coast when he was there or he’d come to Sydney. At Christmas or during an off-season, we’d be in Perth and were very close. Our families have become close as well. It’s been a great journey.