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James O’Connor, the talented, frustrating, energetic, perennially up and coming Wallaby star has been thrown a lifeline by the ARU.
The ARU in releasing James O’Connor from his Wallabies contract has given the young man something plenty of others have wished for – a chance to start again.
Hit the reset button. A time out. A clean break.
Whatever you want to call it, there will be short-term pain. Yet this is also brilliant opportunity here for O’Connor to decide what he wants to achieve, what sort of man he wants to become and set himself for a shot at it.
One of my favourite TV shows, The Wire, regularly repeats a scene where two buddy cops, fatigued of life, drive their cars out to a desolated train line and drink into the night. The irony is that the image of the train on the tracks represents the very thing they wish they could escape – the relentless, onward motion of life their inability to find a new path.
Many people feel that relenting forward motion, whether they are happy with the results or not. Sometimes the journey is a result of decisions made by the individual, sometimes not.
The ARU, probably under pressure to keep one of its brightest stars in the game, have given O’Connor many lifelines in the past that effectively just opened the signals for the train to continue on its path. Now they’ve finally derailed the late-night express to an unfulfilled career.
This isn’t meant to be an attempt to absolve O’Connor for his role in the build up to this decision, but some people – young men especially – need something to knock them off their perch to truly evaluate what they are doing and where it will get them.
A list of poor decisions has finally caught up to O’Connor. The nagging doubt (of the public and probably, if he’s willing to be honest, his own) about his personal behaviour has been answered.
The other shoe has dropped.
The main question that needs to be answered now is this: “James O’Connor, what do you want?”
That question needs to be answered by O’Connor and then he can work out the next move in his personal life and career to make that happen.
Hopefully O’Connor steps away from the game and thinks hard before acting next. A fall, a low, can be used to define a man in his future success.
Without knowing what he is thinking and what his future desires are here are the possible landing spots for O’Connor.
Western Force
This is the option most likely to be taken in the even O’Connor wants to stay in rugby, represent the Wallabies and take on his personal issues and public perception head on.
That last phrase is essential. If he stays in Australian rugby, taking less money and playing for a struggling team, O’Connor is essentially saying he has the mental and emotional strength to reform his behaviour and change his career-path in the view of the public that watched him stumble.
Having said that, the Force aren’t focused on anywhere near as much as the other Australian Super Rugby teams.
Rugby overseas
It wouldn’t be too hard to image O’Connor deciding he still wanted to play rugby and perhaps represent Australia again but decide the best way to go about that would be to take a year or so and move to a country where he won’t be in the spotlight so much.
It wouldn’t be too hard to imagine O’Connor being able to find a welcoming club in Japan or France. And those locations would allow him to leave some baggage in Australia and work on his game and personal goals in a country where the language is new, people aren’t probing so much and there is less expectation.
Rugby league
While maybe not as likely, it’s entirely possible O’Connor either wants a completely new beginning in the sense of his career-path. Maybe he feels rugby isn’t his home anymore or would rather start again while still living on the east coast of Australia, closer to family or friends.
There might be more questions to be answered about his suitability to play the game here than his commitment to personal reform, but I don’t doubt there would be suitors for him to play the other code.
His defence would hold up well enough and he could probably learn the five-eighth or fullback positions quickly.
The main trouble here is he would still be very much in the spotlight as he’d likely be based in Sydney or Brisbane.
AFL
This option is a massive long-shot but there’s money and there’s star power. The gamble here is learning a new sport and whether the AFL will back his star power over the scandal that has followed him in recent years.
A long, long shot.
No matter what happens from here, for it to be successful O’Connor needs to see past the short-term pain and seize the moment for what it really is – a reset.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.