Brad Thorn reckons James O’Connor’s redemption story is nearing completion after the reformed rugby bad boy led the Queensland Reds to a record defeat of the NSW Waratahs in his first game as captain.
Chosen to replace injured skipper Liam Wright, the five-eighth was dominant in a 41-7 win to open the Super Rugby AU season at Suncorp Stadium on Friday.
He was perfect off the boot with five conversions and two penalties, while he set up expansive play with short and long passing and drilled the 50-22 kick that led to another try that iced the contest.
O’Connor became the youngest-ever Super Rugby debutant at age 17 and the second-youngest Wallaby in Australian rugby history at age 18, but twice he left for European stints as off-field drug and alcohol-related trouble followed him.
Now 30, the Gold Coast product returned to the national and state set-up last season determined to make the most of his third chance.
(Photo by Patrick Hamilton / AFP via Getty Images)
Renowned disciplinarian Thorn, who is in his fourth year in charge, has seen enough on and off the field to declare O’Connor has flipped his own narrative.
“James’ story, to captain his state, is really cool and I know it means a lot to him and I’m really proud of him,” Thorn said.
“I’m not sure if James remembers, but when he first came in we had that chat around the narrative around him.
“We all love a redemption story and he’s done that and most importantly he’s done it through his actions.
“I’m very proud for him, his family and it’s a really cool thing to captain his state, it’s a good story to have.”
Ominously, the Reds were also missing suspended Wallabies lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, injured Australian hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa and high-profile NRL recruit Suliasi Vunivalu, who was stood down for one game after an altercation with a security guard at a Brisbane pub.
Facing pressure from emerging Waratahs number ten Will Harrison and Brumbies equivalent Noah Lolesio this season, O’Connor hinted there was room for improvement despite their slick start.
“It was a good start to the year but wasn’t at clinical as we can be,” he said.
“It could have blown out and got a lot sloppier than it did… but we did exactly what we said we would.”
The OG AlBo
Roar Guru
I like Brad Thorne but to give him credit for JOC's resurgence (apologies if I misinterpreted) undervalues just how much work James did before coming back to Australia to improve himself. The thing I love most about the JOC redemption story is that he seemed, for the most part, to take control of his own life and do everything he could to get back on track. For the record, I've always liked him and I could tell that he just needed a couple of things to change in his life to switch it around. You could tell by the way he always carried himself on the field that he had the capability to be a leader. He always played hard, rarely got caught in niggle, and never shirked in defence. He just attracted the wrong people off the field at an impressionable age and had money grubbing wanker agents telling him to focus on his 'brand' at 17 which so many people never let go of. The way I see it, you don't turn it around as much as him without it having been some part of you in the first place. I just hope he gets a couple of cherry's on top of the cake by the end of the career.
Guess
Roar Rookie
Same as Lolesio when the wallabies got flogged by ab last time. Maybe has to do with team performance? Really hope that it won't kill his confidence and potential
Guess
Roar Rookie
Let's see how he'll do against the brums first ok?
Laurence King
Roar Rookie
Lol, that's the thing wrong with being an artist I carnt spel proply
jcmasher
Roar Rookie
I gather you mean Gordon and tbh I’m with you a bit. I’m not sure if it was the pressure of being captain or not but his deliveries to Harrison weren’t that good. I still think Harrison needs to demand more and take control - unless they are planning for the 9 to be the playmaker of course
Laurence King
Roar Rookie
ASY seems to do a lot of the unheralded stuff. Teams need that.
Laurence King
Roar Rookie
Mate, as well as Jordan played, his passing was laboured. Things seemed to click better when the young fella replaced him imo. Cheers
Laurence King
Roar Rookie
Don't answer him mate, he's just a troll
Laurence King
Roar Rookie
I feel that the problem with the tah's scrum was immediately behind the front row.
Garry
Guest
Ever considered that was part of Dingo’s plan? Crazy like a fox.
Malo
Guest
Congratulations qld you beat the worst ever tah side which played with 14 men an you got two tries from Forward passes. Let’s wait till you play a nz side before you are the Febs greatest side.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
The Reds have made changes year after year in support and coaching staff while also experiencing a high turnover of players. They've been fortunate to keep a core unit but lost some good players they really could have kept. Their fortunes have turned around only in the last 18 months. It's not Thorn who should be getting the credit. Jim McKay has a lot to do with the Reds attack starting to fire. A vastly more experienced coach than Thorn.
Malo
Guest
Any Nz super side would beat the reds by 30 and their clubs sides would more likely beat them as well.
ScottD
Roar Guru
Total BS mate. He recognised that the REDS needed a serious attitude readjustment and demanded players and staff change. He was right then and that has been proven. People who think otherwise tend to forget that his attitude is influenced from the behaviour he was immersed in when he played for the most successful sports team in the world over the last 100 years. If you want to be successful you can't accept dickheads or people that don't buy into the team values in your organisation.
Malo
Guest
Qld could have had Matt Dunning at 5/8 and qld would still look good against the tahs pack and Harrison. Harrison has played his final season for the tahs. Time for Donaldson to stand up. Joc or Hodge should be the 12 for the wallabies, Joc has lost his pace.
BBBT
Roar Rookie
The Tahs front row? What game were you watching. HJH and Bell struggled big time against their no name counterparts and got absolutely destroyed when Tupou came on. Harrison has a lot of promise but we was average to poor this week.
Rugby wizard
Guest
"He is currently enjoying the blue sky on the shoulders of very hard working support coaches and players" Do you have the same view when it comes to Galthie who has good support in the likes of Cilliers and Edwards? Mckellar who has Fisher and Hewatt as support?
Comrade Bear
Roar Rookie
Tizzano was more than a green shoot. Harrison was just not given much to work with at all.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
Thorn deserved a lot of the criticism he got and still gets. He's currently enjoying the blue sky on the shoulders of very hard working support coaches and players. His player management skills are atrocious and the first a lot of players would find out they were out of favour is when they were sent back to club.
BroncoWA
Roar Rookie
Couple of new rules were on display last night. That was one of them. Will take a while to work them all out.