Wallabies playmaker reveals first coach to impart ‘wisdom’ as he shares his post-retirement plans
James O'Connor reveals his post-retirement plans
Legendary Wallabies playmaker James O’Connor has revealed that he intends to go into coaching when he finally hangs up his boots.
The 35-year-old appeared on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast this week to discuss his life back in England, as well as his future Wallabies prospects.
Now with Leicester Tigers, being coached by ex-England lock Geoff Parling, O’Connor is nearing the end of his illustrious career.
Speaking on the podcast, he discussed how his life has changed in recent years from the initial ‘party boy’ persona that had dominated the early part of his career, to nowadays, when he’s living a happy, “balanced” life with his wife and dog – a far cry from the bright lights of his early years.
With a clearer, more level-headed mindset, O’Connor wants to use his experiences to pass along to the next generation.
“I’ve got an interest in coaching after all this, so I’m collecting knowledge and life experiences,” he told the panel.
“I want to know where I fit into the group. What does the group require from me? What do they need from me to help make the group better, or help the team win on the weekend?
“So whether that’s finishing a game, whether that’s adding little elements there in the halves, or whether that’s even phase shape or attack shapes. However I can help is important for me, because it gives me that driving force to keep moving, to keep going, and keep wanting to achieve.”
‘I love the attack element of the game’
While the role of head coach is often the ‘go-to’ dream for many prospective coaches, O’Connor sees himself in a different light.
Clarifying that he’d rather lead the attack, he said: “I love the attack element of the game, like shapes, reading game plans, coming up with the moves, which I’ve been doing for at least five years, probably longer than that.
“When I moved to the Reds, it’s when it started, drawing up shapes with the coaches.”
Admitting that he never wanted to be a coach when he was younger, the experienced Wallaby explained his change in mindset.
“I’m turning 36, like, this is my 19th year of rugby. I’ve been playing since I was 17. Rugby is the part of my life that I probably know the most.
“There is an element of me wanting to do that because it’s familiar. I feel like I do have a good skill set, in that I’ve seen the game evolve four or five times. So I understand it from the wing to full-back to centre to ten, not so much in the forward pack, but I know how my forwards like to be moved around the field, and how to get the best out of them.”
When it comes to coaching, O’Connor has one key philosophy: “I want my guys to understand the why of everything that we’re doing.”
‘He was speaking some wisdom there’
O’Connor wasn’t the easiest person to coach in his younger years, openly admitting to having a “victim mentality”, but it was during those years that he found guidance from Harlequins-bound Robbie Deans.
“Probably the person I let down the most, but Robbie Deans was my first Wallaby coach, and he was the first coach, if I look back on it, that taught me a lot about rugby, but a lot about the off-field and being a person,” he explained.
“And he planted some seeds in me, that later, when I was old enough to understand them, I was like, ‘I should have listened, Jesus, he was speaking some wisdom there’, but I was too caught up, and I was already too far gone.”
That’s the joy of getting older: you can look back at your younger self and see where you went wrong. But O’Connor wants to learn from this and ensure that others don’t make the same mistakes.
While the rugby world has plenty still to offer the veteran star, he’s aware that there is a world outside of the oval ball, one that’s been tapped into over the years.
The Aussie star told the panel that he may want to “explore other elements of life”, but claimed: “I’ve also been doing things for the last decade outside of rugby as well, like in the business world and the property world and stuff like that. So I’ve doubled in a lot of different areas of my life, but rugby has always been the focus.”