It was the kind of news that stopped you dead in your tracks. It deflated the air out of your balloon in the blink of an eye. With less than an hour before the start of a new season, and a new era under Rodney Eade, news filtered through to the rooms at the MCG that Jaeger O’Meara had been carried from the ground in a reserves practice match with grave concerns regarding one of his knees. The fear of the unknown hung around all day like a guilty conscience.

After spending the entire pre-season dotting his I’s and crossing his T’s when it came to his fastidious rehabilitation program following a specialised procedure on both his knee caps, O’Meara had rebuilt his physique to Roman gladiator status. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he was ready to return to the game where he had already built an impressive reputation.

Contrary to some media speculation, the Gold Coast SUNS and their prized possession didn’t rush back, rather being overly cautious. Regardless of whether or not it happened in his return or two months down the track, the heartbreak that swept through the club would not have changed. For here was a player on the verge of taking the competition by storm, and suddenly it had been taken away from him.

In the days and weeks that followed the freak accident in Coorparoo, the 21-year-old looked his football mortality squarely in the eye. A shroud of uncertainty circled his situation like a hive of enraged bees. Could his career by all over? Would his knee ever recover? Normal questions that anyone would ask after such a significant injury. Although, hardly what you want to ask yourself at such a young age.

But in the weeks since the operation to repair his ruptured patella tendon, and after consulting a handful of specialists, O’Meara’s confidence in his body has begun to grow. His knee is on the mend and in the coming days he will remove the brace which has been glued to his leg for the best part of six weeks. His range of movement is improving by the day and he is beginning to increase his mobility. No longer requiring assistance to get dressed or to get in and out of the shower. However, the three flights of stairs to his bedroom are another story all together.

Whilst there is no doubt the mental demons associated with such a devastating injury will come and go throughout his long and arduous rehabilitation process, O’Meara speaks with an air of assurance when contemplating the long road ahead. He won’t be taking the easy route home. After all, he has time on his side. And one day he will look back on this time as simply part of his football voyage.

“Everyone I speak to is really positive that I’ll be able to make it back. All they say is this is only a small part of your career,” O’Meara told goldcoastfc.com.au.

“Probably the luckiest thing for me is I’m only 21, I’ve got time on my hands and I’m not going to rush it and try to get back as quick as I can. I’m going to take my time and wait until I’m ready. Hopefully I’ll look back on it and it will just be a small part of my career.

“The first week or so I had some doubts and thought my career was over. But after speaking to a fair few people now and having my surgery and the surgery went really well, I’m really confident that I’ll be fine.”

Jaeger O'Meara was in peak physical shape ahead of the 2015 season.

One of the cruellest twists in this tale is the harsh reality that O’Meara has been here before. Less than ten months ago, he sat at the same starting line. Albeit a different injury, but one not dissimilar to what he is now facing. But given that he has been through the process of rebuilding his legs up once already, the knowledge he can do it has provided him with an armour of confidence that he can do it all over again.

A quick glance at his right leg on the physio table during our interview shows you all you need to know. In the space of six weeks, O’Meara’s right leg has seemingly disappeared. It is reality the 2013 Rising Star winner is hardly enjoying, especially when I point it out. But something that serves as a daily reminder of how far back he must come from to return to where he was. And more painfully, where he was heading.

“I’ve lost a lot of muscle atrophy off my quad, hammy and calf, so I’ve slowly got to build that up again. It’s a bit heartbreaking because I did that for six months after my previous operation and I was starting to feel really strong again,” O’Meara said.

“Now it's all wasted away, so it kind of feels like a bit of a waste. I can’t really think about that too much anymore so I’ll just get back into it slowly.

“By the end of my rehab last time I was feeling really strong and ready to play. I probably felt like I could have played about a month before I played. I was squatting 150kgs and feeling really strong and doing some other really good work in the gym.

“This time it’s going to probably take double the amount of time as my previous rehab. So it’s going to be a lot slower, but I’m definitely confident after speaking to a fair few people.”

In the initial aftermath of the injury, it was difficult to get a read on the situation at hand given the rare nature of O’Meara’s injury. Only one player in the AFL had ruptured their patella tendon previously, with Richmond’s Chris Knights suffering the same injury more than two years ago. He is a shadow of the player he once was, but has suffered a series of complications that have hampered him.

After touching base with Knights and delving further into overseas example cases, O’Meara discovered NFL star, Victor Cruz, from the New York Giants, is currently on the comeback trail from the same injury. As we’ve come to expect from the diligent professional, O’Meara has turned his attention to pouring over case studies to find the best course of action to pursue. He will leave no stone unturned in his quest to make a successful return.

“That was probably the hardest thing – not knowing many people that have done it before. I only know of one person that’s done it in the AFL, Chris Knights from Richmond. He actually gave me a call and I spoke to him. He was really good, reassured me that everything would be fine,” O’Meara said.

Richmond's Chris Knights ripped his patella tendon off the bone in Round 7, 2013.

“I got on the internet and did a bit of research and some of the stuff I found was pretty negative. So that was pretty hard to read but there was a lot of stuff that was positive.

“I’ve been following the New York Giants captain Victor Cruz pretty closely. He’s about five months ahead of me so he’s started running about a month ago. I think everything’s going really well with his rehab. I’ve been following him pretty closely.”

With a long journey infront of him, O’Meara knows how important it is for him to not become overwhelmed with the process. The monotonous routine of rehabilitation can be a dark and lonely place for elite athletes who have had their livelihood taken away from them. Given he has just gone through all the ups and downs the game throws up, O’Meara has turned his attention to other parts of his life; normal options for young men that become far more difficult once an AFL club lures you inside their tent.

The West Australian has trips to Hong Kong and the United States planned in the coming months, and will increase his university load to keep his mind occupied during a time where he would much rather be studying next week’s opponents or Eade’s evolving football philosophy. With a plethora of wise football heads parked inside Metricon Stadium, the club understands the benefits of allowing O’Meara time away from the club.

“I guess a positive out of this negative is I get to get away during the footy season, we don’t get a lot of time off so I’m probably going to go over to America. Do a bit of a holiday over there,” O’Meara said.

“I’m also going to do a couple of subjects at uni via correspondence. And I’m going to do some work experience with some guys that are on our board so I’m looking forward to that.

“I’m just trying to keep my mind off footy, off my rehab as much as I can. The club's been pretty good, they’ve said I don’t have to do all my rehab at the club and be at the club everyday.

“I think just because the six months that I went through with my rehab previously I was starting to get really excited about playing again obviously and I was doing everything I could to get back out there. I was putting a fair bit of time into getting back out on the field.

“And then for it to be taken away from me again for another twelve months it's pretty hard to take but the club said if I want a change of environment and that kind of thing they're happy for me to go and do it elsewhere and they’ll seek out the right physios and trainers to do it in a different environment, which is pretty exciting.”

Just like life, nothing in football is certain. Hard work trumps talent, although the combination of the two typically translates into a decorated career. In the case of O’Meara, we are reminded of the crucial role of luck. Not only is he a prodigious talent, but his appetite for hard work and his desire to get the most out of himself was quickly becoming the stuff of legend. Now he needs his fair share of luck to place his career back on its natural trajectory.

Only time will tell how this story unfolds, but the best victories are wrung from adversity. You get the sense that this will be the moulding of a champion. Nothing but a minor road block in a long journey ahead.

The 2013 Rising Star has a long football journey ahead of him.