ESSENDON is interested in securing the services of wantaway Gold Coast midfielder Jaeger O'Meara, Bombers coach John Worsfold says.
O'Meara, 22, this week requested to be traded interstate after five injury-interrupted seasons at the Suns, which netted him 44 games.
Worsfold said O'Meara would be ideal for the Bombers' emerging list.
"We would love to have him at Essendon, absolutely," Worsfold told Channel Nine on Sunday.
"We're a club that is in a position now to build our list to win premierships, that's in the short-term.
"We're looking over the next six or seven years to have a squad that will rapidly get back up the ladder and hopefully challenge.
"So players around (the) 22 or 23-year-old age bracket are a perfect fit for us, especially ones as talented as an O'Meara."
O'Meara has been savaged by injury over the past two years, missing 15 months after rupturing his patella tendon in a NEAFL practice match in 2015.
The 184cm ball-winner made his long-awaited comeback via the NEAFL in July, featuring in three matches in carefully managed game time, before requiring arthroscopic surgery earlier this month.
The Suns are also expected to lose fellow out-of-contract midfielder Dion Prestia, who has been linked with a move to Richmond.
Worsfold also said he remained hopeful that captain Jobe Watson, one of the 12 Bombers suspended for the season, would return next year.
"My guess is he wants to play on next year but he has to make absolutely sure that's what is in his heart," he said.
"We'll give him the time that he needs (to work that out).
"I'd love him to come back and play at Essendon because I've got no doubt he'll really enjoy playing with the group we've got for next year and maybe the year after.
"He has to be absolutely clear and sometimes you don't know when that moment's going to be - when you say nah, I'm in."
Worsfold said he had been in contact with Watson "pretty regularly".
"He sent a message through last night about the win," he said.
Meanwhile, Geelong defender Jimmy Bartel said his premiership teammate James Kelly should play on at the Bombers in 2017.
"His form is outstanding, he looks fit and I think he would jell really well with the incoming Bombers who have had the year off," Bartel told Channel Seven on Sunday.
Kelly, 32, was one of the few top-up players to buck the injury trend at Essendon – fellow recruits such as Mark Jamar, Ryan Crowley, Nathan Grima and Jonathan Simpkin all missed multiple games with injury.
Kelly played 273 games over his 14 seasons at Geelong before being delisted at the end of 2015 alongside fellow top-up Bomber Mathew Stokes and Giants recruit Steve Johnson.
