INJURY-RIDDLED Hawthorn recruit Jaeger O'Meara will almost certainly be out for at least another three weeks as he recovers from his latest knee setback.
O'Meara, 23, joined the Hawks from Gold Coast in the off-season in a much-scrutinised trade deal after not being seen at AFL level since 2014 because of a serious knee injury.
He played in the JLT Community Series and the first three rounds of the premiership season before missing two matches with bone bruising after a knee knock against his former side in round three.
O'Meara returned against St Kilda in round six, but has not played since being a late withdrawal before Hawthorn's three-point round seven victory over Melbourne.
Hawthorn officials have repeatedly stated this injury issue is unrelated to his knee problems of the past two years.
O'Meara is undergoing a conditioning program and coach Alastair Clarkson hoped he would resume full training in the near future.
"(O'Meara)'s going along OK. We're hoping he'll be able to step it up over the next few weeks," the coach said on Thursday.
"We probably wouldn't anticipate he plays before the bye (in round 13, on the weekend of June 17 and 18), but his training's been really strong.
"We've got a really good conditioning block into him and he's progressing well through that and will be back into full training pretty soon, I reckon."
