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Queensland Reds and Wallabies player James O’Connor has been named Super Rugby player of the year for the significant role he played in steering his side to the 2021 Australian title.
O’Connor was the joint top point scorer in the regular season and he was also in the Top 10 stat leaders for carries, defenders beaten and metres carried.
It comes after O’Connor returned to Australia in the middle of 2019 with what was reported to be strict behaviour clauses on his Reds contract.
O’Connor has spoken about how much he’s matured from his controversial past including being dumped by the Wallabies in 2013 and in a separate incident arrested in 2017 for cocaine possession.
“I wasn’t playing well so I started chasing things off the field,” O’Connor told Stan Sports last year.
However, O’Connor has put all that behind him and has been rewarded for his hard work in shaping the Reds into a winning team.
“It’s a huge honour to be named the Super Rugby Player of the Year. I’m really proud of where we got to as a team last year,” O’Connor said.
“We had a great season winning the Super Rugby AU title, and this is a nice piece of recognition to finish it off.
“Our attention has now turned to the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific competition. I feel like we fell short last year in the combined competition, so I’m very excited to test ourselves against the best of the best again and go a step further.”
In further good news for the Queensland club, the Reds swept the senior awards with Lucy Lockhart winning the Super W player of the year.
Lucy Lockhart. (Image: supplied, Rugby Australia)
It’s part of a week-long celebration of the Rugby Australia Awards which will culminate in the 2021 John Eales Medal being announced on Sunday morning.
A member of the Queensland Reds for the past two years, Lockhart was named vice-captain for the 2021 Super W season in Coffs Harbour and helped steer the side to its second finals appearance in a row.
“I think being named as vice-captain and subsequently in the Reds leadership group had a big influence on the way I approached the game last year,” Lockhart said.
“It was a fantastic season for our side last year and I think the side is ready to get over the hump and win a championship.”
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.