Michael O'Connor (rugby) - Playing Career - Rugby League

Rugby League

Michael O'Connor switched to rugby league, signing with New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership side, St George in 1983. In a later interview, O'Connor revealed that his father, a staunch supporter of rugby union, told him at the time that he would be "selling himself like a piece of horse flesh in rugby league" if he were to take the money on offer to play for the Dragons and turn his back on the then still amateur code.

He made his State of Origin debut for New South Wales two years later in 1985. Heavy rain confronted the players at Lang Park when the teams took the field for the opening match of the series, and it was thought players new to Origin football such as Michael O'Connor might struggle to cope with the conditions. However the former Wallaby displayed nerves of steel to complete one of Origin's most memorable debuts scoring two tries and kicking five goals to finish with all 18 of the Blue's points. Queensland Rugby League Chairman Ron McAuliffe was later heard to say that Qld had been beaten by a "bloody Qld Rugby Union international".

O'Connor was part of St. George's 1985 Grand Final team that lost to Canterbury-Bankstown in front of 44,569 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. O'Connor kicked the only goal for the Dragons as they went down in a thriller 6-7.

His international rugby league debut in the 1st Test against New Zealand in Auckland in July 1986 at Carlaw Park saw him become Australia's 37th dual code rugby international following Ray Price and preceding Ricky Stuart. Many of his international rugby league appearances were as a winger, such was the depth of the three-quarter talent with players like Gene Miles, Brett Kenny, Mal Meninga and Mark McGaw available to the Australian selectors during his era, though he did play most of his State of Origin career in his preferred centre position. Of his 18 tests, O'Connor only played three games at centre, all three during the 1988 Ashes series against Great Britain following the international retirement of Kenny, and the unavailability of both Miles and Meninga with injury.

O'Connor was a selection for the 1986 Kangaroo Tour, and played in all 6 tests on tour (including the pre-tour test against Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, won 62-12 by the Wally Lewis led Kangaroos) and was the leading point scorer on tour with 170 from 13 tries and 59 goals from his 14 games played. O'Connor scored a personal tally of 44 points in the 3-0 Ashes series win against the Great Britain Lions, including 22 in the first test at Old Trafford where he scored 3 tries and kicked 5/9 goals. He then played the final two tests on tour against a hapless French side, scoring 20 points (3 tries, 4 goals) in the 44-2 first test win at Perpignan and 16 points (1 try, 6 goals) in the 52-0 second test win at Carcassonne. The Kangaroos, for the second tour in a row following on from "The Invincibles" 1982 Kangaroo Tour, had gone through Great Britain and France undefeated, the 1986 touring team earning the nickname "The Unbeatables"

Before the end of the 1986 NSWRL season, O'Connor signed with the Bob Fulton coached Manly-Warringah from 1987 and starred in their 18-8 Grand Final win over the Canberra Raiders in the last ever Grand Final played at the SCG. O'Connor scored 14 of Manly's 18 points with a try in the second half (despite questions about him being onside before receiving Dale Shearer's kick) and a perfect 5/5 goal kicking. Following the 1987 grand final victory he travelled with the champion Manly side to England for the 1987 World Club Challenge against their champions, Wigan at their famous home ground, Central Park. In front of 36,895 (though estimates put the crowd as high as 50,000), Wigan won an often spiteful, but ultimately try-less game 8-2, with Manly's only points coming from a penalty goal off the boot of Michael O'Connor.

During 1987, O'Connor played on the wing in Australia's shock 6-13 loss to New Zealand in the one-off test at Lang Park. It was the second time in four years that the Australian's had lost their first test in Australia (both at Lang Park to New Zealand) following unbeaten Kangaroo Tours.

O'Connor scored tries in all three matches of the 1988 State of Origin series, which Queensland won 3-0, despite two of the three games being played in Sydney for the first time. He was then chosen at centre for the Ashes series against the touring Great Britain side, the Australian's winning the series 2-1. Great Britain's win in the third and final test at the new Sydney Football Stadium was their first win against Australia since 1978.

Following the end of the 1988 season, Michael O'Connor and Manly team mate (and captain) Paul Vautin traveled to England to play for the Alex Murphy coached St. Helens for a short spell during 1989, but his performances were largely disappointing, culminating in the side's humiliating 27–0 1989 Challenge Cup Final defeat at Wembley Stadium against arch rivals, Wigan. It was the first time in Cup Final history that a team had been held scoreless. O'Connor's specially arranged return for that match, given his unimpressive performances for the side was controversial – he took Dave Tanner's place who had played in the famous 16–14 Semi-final victory over Widnes . Saints coach, Alex Murphy even tried O'Connor at fullback on occasions during the 1988–89 Rugby Football League season, without success. Conflicting reports have been given as the reason for the move, Murphy claiming that O'Connor had approached him with the idea of playing fullback, while O'Connor maintains that it was Murphy's idea for him to play there, though he preferred to play centre or, if required, on the wing. Following the fullback experiment, O'Connor primarily played centre for St Helens.

During 1989, despite Manly's poor form which would see them finish in 12th position, O'Connor was selected for Game 3 of the 1989 State of Origin series, which saw Qld record its second straight 3-0 series win, and 8th straight game win, with a 36-16 win at Lang Park. Following this he was selected for Australia's mid-season tour of New Zealand, where he played in all three Trans-Tasman Tests against the Kiwi's as the Bob Fulton coached Aussies won 3-0 against a New Zealand side sometimes more intent on dishing out punishment (primarily from fiery lock forward Brendon Tuuta), than playing football.

O'Connor's last test for Australia was in 1990. Playing on the wing on a freezing night at the Pioneer Oval in Parkes (NSW), O'Connor, as did the other Australian goal kickers used (captain Mal Meninga, on debut Laurie Daley, and former Manly team mate Dale Shearer), had an off-night with the boot, missing all three of his conversion attempts. Following the 1990 NSWRL season, in which he had taken over the captaincy of the Sea Eagles following Paul Vautin's move to Eastern Suburbs, O'Connor ruled himself out of contention for the 1990 Kangaroo Tour because of a recurring hamstring injury.

O'Connor is remembered in State of Origin folklore for a sideline conversion for NSW in teeming rain only minutes out from the final siren to win the 2nd game of the 1991 state of Origin series 14-12 win over Qld at the Sydney Football Stadium. Despite no longer being the regular kicker for Manly, due to the signing of goal kicking Kiwi RU fullback Matthew Ridge, and the presence in the NSW team of regular kickers for their clubs in Greg Alexander (Penrith) and Rod Wishart (Illawarra), coach Tim Sheens gave the kicking duties to O'Connor for the series and his lack of match kicking practice showed, kicking only 3/9 for the series, all three goals coming in Game 2 in Sydney. The 1991 Origin series was the last time Michael O'Connor represented NSW.

At the end of 1992 Winfield Cup season, still on top and producing his best as captain of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, O'Connor announced his retirement from playing. O'Connor was rated the 50th best Australian rugby league player of all time in a Rugby League Week Special in 1992.