JOC (James O'Connor) Gooonne

[cyclopath]

He wants a ARU top up? Tell him he's dreaming.

Don't they have a deal on top-ups at Hungry Jacks if you get a Whopper meal?

 

[KAOPointman]

You guys are way too harsh on the guy. He's a great player and has been stunning for the wallabies at times. He's certainly a winger of FB tho.
If this was a rugby leage player.....we wouldn't even notice him with all the rapists,bashings,drugs and wife beatings going on.
So the guy likes to look good...... big deal

 

[Train Without a Station]

He's a cancer to a successful team culture. In fact, no team that he has been a part of has thrived. 2 of them are currently experiencing varying degrees of success and consistency since. It's not all him, but cut loose those like him are a factor.

 

[Scoey]

You guys are way too harsh on the guy. He's a great player and has been stunning for the wallabies at times. He's certainly a winger of FB tho.
If this was a rugby leage player...we wouldn't even notice him with all the rapists,bashings,drugs and wife beatings going on.
So the guy likes to look good.. big deal

It's not his off field behaviour that is the issue. It's not great but it's not the issue. It's the effect he has on team/club culture.

We've all known one to varying degrees. Just think of the guy at your local club that never puts in at training because he doesn't think he needs to, who never does anything for the club (help out with the juniors, wash the jerseys, man the BBQ whatever), occasionally turns up to games hungover, puts in a crap performance then blames others etc. and is generally full of himself. The coaches tolerate/accommodate him because he really is that good, for a while at least, until either the rest of the players get jack of it and the infighting starts, or they draw a line in the sand and say enough, at which point he chucks his toys out of the cot and goes and plays somewhere else. Well this is what I imagine JOC (James O'Connor) is like but on a higher more elite level. Essentially, the dude is all about himself and what he wants.

In Rugby, them team must ALWAYS come first and with JOC (James O'Connor), I'm not sure he even has the ability to do that.

 

[Ignoto]

We’re working on rectifying our deficiencies and will tell our fans of our plans for 2015 at the appropriate time so they have a fuller picture to judge us on”.

So will that happen before or after they ask for a membership renewal?

 

[RugbyReg]

So will that happen before or after they ask for a membership renewal?

it will happen pretty much concurrently. Probably at the Gala dinner, which is usually close to when the next year's membership campaign starts.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Well said Scoey. I don't want him anywhere near the Wallabies until he's shown he's capable of being a team man.

 

[Tex]

JOC (James O'Connor)'s changed character and newly found team-first ethos is about as convincing as Bill Shorten's confected outrage in parliament. All script and rote learning.

That he will be back playing in Australia is a given (in my opinion), and that it will be fairly short-lived once the RWC and Olympic Games ego boosts are over is also fairly certain.

I'm eager for him to prove me wrong, but I think I smell a rat.

 

[cyclopath]

You guys are way too harsh on the guy. He's a great player and has been stunning for the wallabies at times. He's certainly a winger of FB tho.
If this was a rugby leage player...we wouldn't even notice him with all the rapists,bashings,drugs and wife beatings going on.
So the guy likes to look good.. big deal

Unfortunately for him, his malignant effect on teams over the past few years is not something that can be brushed. The ARU wiped its hands of him with far more knowledge of his issues than we pundits have. Given that all and sundry know how talented he is, that speaks volumes.
Nobody doubts his talent.

 

[Train Without a Station]

I still consider that JOC (James O'Connor) is a player that plays to look good. And often his positive involvements, are at the detriment of the teams performance.

E.g. breaks/runs that look good on a highlight reel yet end in a turnover due to running away from support.

Perhaps I'm totally wrong, but that's just the view that sticks in my mind of him.

 

[swingpass]

TWAS there may be something to this. i analysed the Rebels results when he or KB (Kurtley Beale) or both were playing. the Rebels won more games and scored more points without them, than with them, either individually or especially together.
the very last game they both played at AAMI park was the exception rather than the rule.

 

[BDA]

I'll be really pissed off if the ARU gives JOC (James O'Connor) a top up. There are tones of players more deserving. Kane Douglas comes to mind. If its the difference between JOC (James O'Connor) returning to OZ or staying abroad let him loose. How about they spend that top-up money on some of our current wingers like Speight, Cummins and Tomane. Not sure whether they are receiving top up but it would be nice to see them around for the world cup. I understand Speight and Cummins are locked in but I had thought there was a question mark over Tomane. There's a bloke that made a positive contribution to the Link era wallabies last year, and is a Mormon (I think?) and fits into the new team culture of hard work, no booze, etc.

If I'm being honest I'd probably rate JOC (James O'Connor) as slightly better than those other wingers I've listed, but I get the impression he'd cause more harm than good to the wallabies at the World Cup. He's clearly still a child and is likely to have a bad influence on a guy like Cooper who clearly has matured since 2012.

Instead of taking Link's advice and remaining in Australia and taking a pay-cut and showing some god damn humility he goes overseas and cashes up (something the ARU doesn't allow of their top players) then comes back and wants to go straight back to the top of Aus rugby. The ARU doesn't allow sabbaticals for even our best players. If he gets a top-up he is making a mockery of us all.

If JOC (James O'Connor) wants to play for Australia he should come here with NO ARU TOP-UP, and should work his ass off for the Reds and show that he can go out and promote the game and do meet and greets with kids and visit children in hospital and if he does all those things maybe, just maybe he might squeeze a spot in the WC squad and at best he can sit on the bench behind the likes of Cummins and AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), guys who have respect for the jersey.

 

[Scoey]

Just with how apparently desperate we are at the Reds I would be OK on them taking a (heavily conditioned) punt on JOC (James O'Connor). I would not be supportive of it though if it could only happen with an ARU top up. No way.

 

[BDA]

I'm half minded to forward a written complaint to the ARU about this. Anyone know which department I should be writing to? (an email perhaps? - with all the staffing cuts I suspect it will never actually by read)

 

[Pfitzy]

If the Wallabies start to win again, then their recruitment peeps need to start looking at their practices for negotiation.

Unfortunately, the market can only bear so many overpaid prima donnas, and those who keep us in the news aren't necessarily the ones we want.

It hasn't hurt the NRL to have a few faecal incidents, granted, but they're offering "free" product (if you count being drowned in betting adverts as "free").

 

[It is what it is]

Unlike 'any' employee, professionals playing a contact sport have a very limited timeframe in which to maximise their income.
No of us can walk a mile in JOC (James O'Connor)'s or any other's shoes in this situation.
On one hand we seem to accept Douglas leaving the Wallabies to make an extra buck but at the same time expect JOC (James O'Connor) to stay here in the naughty corner for a year earning less $$$ to see if we want him again.
Like him or not he's never been one to wait for things to happen on or off the field and part of me admires that about him.
I don't condone his behaviour at times but the majority of rugby fans wanted to hang Cooper and Beale and look at things now.

Let him ask for what he wants and then it's simple.
The ARU and/or QRU agree or they don't, and life will move on for everyone.
At his best however, he is one of the best players in the world.

 

[Train Without a Station]

It Is What It Is,

Players like JOC (James O'Connor) are afforded much more lucrative contracts and also much greater additional income opportunities than those like Kane Douglas remember.

He's a young guy capable of transitioning into post rugby roles. He doesn't need to milk every dollar out of his contracts. I get the impression it's more ego than necessity.

 

[ChargerWA]

Hmm, so he was talking to the Force but they placed very strict conditions surrounding behaviour on any return and now he is talking to the Reds, hoping to take advantage of the fact they are hemorrhaging backs.

Call me cynical but the whole JOC (James O'Connor) saga reminds me of Stampy the elephant off The Simpsons, " animals are a lot like humans: some act badly because they've had a hard life or they've been mistreated; but, like humans, some animals are just jerks "

 

[It is what it is]

It Is What It Is,

Players like JOC (James O'Connor) are afforded much more lucrative contracts and also much greater additional income opportunities than those like Kane Douglas remember.

He's a young guy capable of transitioning into post rugby roles. He doesn't need to milk every dollar out of his contracts. I get the impression it's more ego than necessity.

Yes I hear you but it cuts both ways, on and off the field.
He walks a tightrope with his approach to rugby and life.
JOC (James O'Connor) is a guy who polarises opinion, there's no middle ground.
He makes things happen, sometimes good and sometimes shithouse, but you'll never die wondering.
Not so sure about JOC (James O'Connor)'s career prospects post rugby though.
My thoughts are that if we're talking income opportunities, he's got to go for it now.

 

[Richo]

Comparing JOC (James O'Connor) and Kurtley is instructive. Both were schoolboy stars who burst onto the Super and international scene very early, with quick success. Both were afforded a lot of opportunities by Deans and both proved they could be among the world's best at their positions when playing well. Both went to Melbourne, went off the rails and got injured.

But where O'Connor left Perth amid controversy and dumb remarks, Beale left the Waratahs on good terms. At the Rebels, neither played particularly well but still stayed around in the Gold. Both had injuries that wrecked seasons.

Kurtley's struggles with alcohol are well documented. That's a lot to deal with as a young man in the spotlight, and particularly when he comes from an unstable background (consider the family function incident). Going to rehab and sorting his shit out was a really impressive thing to do. It takes guts and determination and integrity to overcome addiction. Rather than run from his problems, Kurtley faced them, came to the Tahs, competed for a starting spot and his really come on at 12. As a Wallaby super sub, he has the potential to be in and around the term through the RWC.

JOC (James O'Connor) leaving when he got dumped from the Wallabies is, IMO, equally instructive. He's got a right to earn while he can, but the whole incident reeked of running from his problems. Kane Douglas (or Ben Mowen, for that matter) made a carefully weighed decision. Likely he or his agent even spoke to the powers that be around the ARU. For JOC (James O'Connor) to be demanding a top-up is absolutely ridiculous given the way he left. To my mind, it shows he's learned diddly-squat from the last year.

The ARU is building a strong, dedicated team and has marketable, exciting players already. Give those promo spots to Cummins or To'omua or TPN, all of whom speak to everything that is great about rugby. Let O'Connor earn way back into contention on the field and by being an examplary figure off it.

Otherwise, allez à Toulon, M. O'Connor, et puis ne returnez pas.