Known for his 'outside the box' thinking, Alastair Clarkson has once again devised a plan to accelerate the recovery of star midfielder Jaeger O'Meara.

Scans revealed a minor fracture in O'Meara's forehead after a training collision on Monday but Clarkson says a call to a former club great could hold the keys to a return for the on-baller.

Asked if O'Meara may wear a helmet upon his return, Clarkson was quick to jump on the idea.

"'Piggy' Dunstall has one of those crash hats he can wear," Clarkson laughed.

"I'm thinking of ringing the 'Chief' and seeing if we could borrow it! 

"The size of their melons might be a little bit different though, the big Chief's head might be a bit too big for Jaeger!"

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On a more serious note, Clarkson said the medical staff had their work cut out holding a keen O'Meara back throughout his stint in recovery from his minor injury. 

"If you saw him and watched him train, you'd think there is nothing wrong with him.

"The challenge will be probably holding him back and putting the harness on him over the next couple of weeks because he is raring to go.

"This is hopefully just a small blip and we can ramp up his training not next week but the week after."

The four-time premiership coach also explained he didn't think the lead-up to the season's restart was overly different to a typical preparation of previous years. 

"What we're hoping, and I'm sure 17 other clubs are hoping as well, is that the two or three weeks of top-up in terms of agility, change of direction, deceleration-acceleration work and contact is going to be enough.

"Even when you start a normal home and away season, we often use the first three or four games to get fully match-conditioned anyway.

"So, I don't see this as being enormously different to that but the proof will be in the pudding in the early parts of the season."