Michael O'Connor

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Date Of Birth:	01/01/0001

Head Coach

A dual international, O’Connor represented Australia in both Rugby Union and League over a much-heralded 13 year football career which spanned from 1979-1992.

O’Connor toured as part of the Australian Schools Rugby squad in 1977 alongside Wallaby greats the Ella brothers and rugby league legend Wally Lewis. Capped on 13 occasions in Wallaby Gold, O’Connor was highly regarded by critics of the game – new and old – as one of the most skilful and powerful centres to have played.

O’Connor switched codes in 1983, joining the St. George Dragons before heading north to join Manly in 1987. O’Connor represented both New South Wales and Australia in the 13-man code, capped on 19 and 17 occasions respectively with both representative sides. O’Connor went down in State of Origin folklore for a sideline conversion in torrential rain after the final siren to win Game Two of the 1991 series.

After his retirement in 1992, O’Connor took up an administrative role with the Australian Rugby Union before taking on the role of ARU’s Talent Identification Coordinator for a number of years.

In 2006 O’Connor was appointed as an independent selector for the Qantas Wallabies alongside coaches John Connolly and Scott Johnson, before moving across the board to head up the Australian Sevens in 2008.

A sometimes forgotten fact in the illustrious career of Michael O’Connor’s is that the current Australian Sevens boss was also a master of the shortened form of the game himself. O’Connor spent the better part of three seasons in the national Sevens squad, a time that inspired a passion for the seven-a-side version of the game.