Wallabies star James O'Connor set to re-sign

[tdevil]

Wallabies star James O'Connor set to re-sign with Western Force for one more season
By Bret Harris
The Australian June 08, 2011 7:40AM
Staying put ... O'Connor will announce a new one-year deal soon. Source: Daniel Wilkins / News Limited

Wallabies wonderkind James O'Connor will announce soon he is re-signing with Western Force for one more year.

While O'Connor has agreed to terms with the Force, there will be no official announcement until he finalises the ARU component of the deal, which is not expected to happen this week.

O'Connor is attending a funeral in Queensland on Wednesday and will not return to Perth until the day after.

The hottest player on the open market, O'Connor had been chased by the Brumbies, Melbourne Rebels and Queensland Reds, but an announcement on his future in Perth is imminent.

more....
http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/su...-1226071436717

[SNOB]

Will be great if its true but I think I will wait till I hear it from JOC and the Force before I celebrate!

[mudskipper]

O'Connor tells suitors he's staying put

BY JOHN-PAUL MOLONEY, RUGBY UNION
08 Jun, 2011 07:22 AM


James O'Connor will not be part of Jake White's plan to rebuild the ACT Brumbies next year, but the club may soon get another chance at luring the Wallabies star east.

The Brumbies were strong contenders to secure the outstanding Western Force back, thanks largely to the vision presented by incoming coach White and back-line assistant coach Stephen Larkham.

However O'Connor's management told suitors the Brumbies, Melbourne Rebels and the Queensland Reds yesterday that he was staying put in Perth on a one-year contract.

''It's always hard to get a player to leave a province, especially when they're a Wallaby, so we always knew it was a long shot,'' Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan said. ''But from all the reports we've heard back, we were a genuine chance and the fact he's signed a one-year deal tells us he's keeping his options open.''

Fagan said the Brumbies could potentially make another bid for O'Connor in 2012.

''Life moves on. We don't know where we'll be in 12 months' time, but you never close the door,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the Brumbies were rugged up yesterday as they continued their preparations to face the Rebels on Friday....


http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news...px?storypage=0


There you go the Brumbies have got the message JOC to stay at the Force for 2012. Good for him, its good for the Force, really didn't want to see him at the Reds, and Rebels would have wasted his talent... I hope he has a good 2012. Now he can focus on beating the Reds this weekend... and the RWC...

[WF2006]

Well if its in the Canberra Times it must be true!

[PerthGirl]

Don't really want to go through all this again in 12 months time!

[shasta]

Don't really want to go through all this again in 12 months time!

I don't mind - as long as we're still speculating on the same thing in 2013, 14, 15, 16......

It's all good. Like QC, SBW and quite a few others, James is taking a risk in a game where a career can end in an instant. So good luck to him and all of them. We should just not take things so seriously. It's only a game, after all.

[The InnFORCEr]

While O'Connor has agreed to terms with the Force, there will be no official announcement until he finalises the ARU component of the deal, which is not expected to happen this week.

No shit, so it is the ARU stalling the process.....I'm sure someone thought that was the case and was "almost" prepared to bet a left one on it last week

About the only words of truth in the whole article

[eleypinkbit]

According to Tim Gossage this morning on the radio - O'Connors dad has confirmed he's staying in Perth - why would he want to leave?

[robyn <3]

I'm grinning from ear to ear, which should be waiting til the words come from the horse's mouth. But James is a fabulous asset to our team and while we can win without him, he's an essential part of the image and growth of rugby in WA and plays some bloody good footy. He's welcome here as long as he wants.

9. Swanepol
10. Stannard
11. Shepard
12. O'Connor
13. Sidey
14. Cummins
15. Delit

Helloooooo Super rugby 2012

[Rex Messup]

The rugby women of Perth will be celebrating into the night. Drink up hard ladies, Rex will take JOC's rejects

[travelling_gerry]

Wayne Smith From: The Australian June 09, 2011 12:00AM



WESTERN Force coach Richard Graham is hoping James O'Connor re-signs with the Perth franchise for at least two years to enable it to build its side around him in the post-Nathan Sharpe era, but he may have to be satisfied with a one-year deal.

O'Connor still has not announced which Super Rugby team he will play for next season but by process of elimination it must be the Force after the Reds, Rebels and Brumbies all confirmed yesterday they had been told he would not be joining them in 2012.

That is the best possible news for the long-term future - one could almost say survival - of the Force because O'Connor, though still a month short of his 21st birthday, has become one of the most influential players in Australian rugby, the sort of footballer who acts as a magnet to attract other quality players.

Sharpe, who has captained the Force since day one in 2006, will retire from all rugby at the end of next year and Graham regards O'Connor, in company with David Pocock and the club's other Wallabies backrowers, as the players best equipped to take over the key leadership roles.

"We are hoping we can get James for as long as we can," Graham said.

"The important thing for us is that we secure the backrowers and a young back like him. You can build a team around players of that calibre."

That O'Connor has chosen, like Quade Cooper, to opt for a one-year contract - which is what officials of the three other franchises were told - might not necessarily indicate he is planning to leave Perth in 12 months' time.

Rather, it could simply be a precaution not to lock himself into a two-year deal when and if the Rugby Union Players Association mounts a legal challenge to the ARU's planned salary cap.

Indications are the Reds were the first franchise eliminated from the race for O'Connor, followed by the Rebels.

The Brumbies - whose incoming coach Jake White made a concerted play for the 27-Test utility back - appears to have been the last club off the list.

O'Connor is expected to be named today at inside centre in the team to play the table-topping Reds in Perth on Saturday night, with Graham to stick with James Stannard at five-eighth.

Willie Ripia, who missed the NZ tour because of injury, was trialled in the playmaker role at training this week but couldn't match the sharpness of Stannard, the converted halfback who has been a revelation at 10 over the past fortnight.

Graham, following the lead of Reds coach Ewen McKenzie who is keeping his run-on side a secret, revealed that four members of the side that beat the Highlanders last weekend were in doubt because of the battering they took in Dunedin, although he declined to identify them.

McKenzie went further, naming only a squad of 23 including jet-shoed winger Rod Davies on his return from injury and two uncapped academy backs, Jono Lance and Dallan Murphy, and then barring media from training for the first time this season.

It may be he intends springing a major surprise, like naming sevens specialist Lance at fullback, or he simply could be playing mind games ahead of what shapes as a must-win match for the Reds.

The Rebels, meanwhile, have named Danny Cipriani at five-eighth in their side to play the Brumbies in Canberra tomorrow night, but offsetting his reinstatement is the loss for the remainder of the season of Wallabies lock contender Hugh Pyle with hamstring trouble.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226071969271

[travelling_gerry]

Tim Horan From: The Daily Telegraph June 09, 2011 12:00AM



IT appears James O'Connor is due to re-sign with the Western Force, and that is the best possible outcome for Australian rugby.

He was being chased by almost every province, including Queensland, who offered a decent package.

Two years ago if a guy of James O'Connor's calibre was looking to move, Queensland might have even worn Waratah jerseys for a game if it would have secured his signature. Actually, on second thoughts, that's going a bit far. But you get the picture.

The Reds would have loved to have James O'Connor. But they didn't need James O'Connor. The Force do and Perth is the right place for O'Connor to play his rugby.

With David Pocock, Nathan Sharpe, Ben McCalman and Matt Hodgson in the forwards, the Force are forming a formidable team there. But if they lost O'Connor, they'd seriously struggle to keep to the scoreboard ticking over.


The Force have scored 285 points and O'Connor accounts for 164, which equates to 57 per cent of their points. And as much as they rely on him on the field, they rely just as heavily on him off the field. He is a marketable face.

The best result for Australian rugby next season is to have O'Connor at the Force, Quade Cooper at Queensland, Berrick Barnes at the Waratahs and Kurtley Beale at the Rebels.

It spreads the talent out nicely, and those four guys you'd say are in the top 10-12 players in the country. You need to have that talent spread. But the part I can't understand is the talk O'Connor is looking for a one-year contract. Similarly with Quade Cooper, there is simply no financial security when you sign a contract lasting just one year.

Yes, they want to look at their options after the World Cup. Fair enough. Whether they fit in Australian rugby, in rugby overseas or even in another code.

As far as their futures go, James and Quade are suited to rugby union. But I have concerns about the financial security of a one-year contract. A professional rugby player averages about eight years in their career. If you get 10-12 years, you've done well.

So while one-year deals might potentially give you more options, it also gives you far less financial security.

Some will make the argument a one-year deal keeps them on edge, and backing themselves to perform. I'm not convinced that's the smart move.

With the Aussie dollar strong, and the offshore rugby market changing every year, both of those players were in a prime position to take a 3-4 year contract in Australia.

And at the height of the current market and at the height of their bargaining powers. It might play out they win a World Cup and one wins player of the tournament, and they're in a strong position to look at other options. But it might not play out like that.

The alternative would be to take a three-year contract for 5 per cent less to give yourself financial security. No athlete wants to, but injury is a factor you simply have to consider.

There is a possibility you can be injured on or off the field and never play professional sport again.

It's an unfortunate reality but if you suffer a career ending injury without adequate insurance, you are in the workplace a lot quicker than you thought. And certainly not on the income you were making in rugby.

In my other life, working for Westpac's Sport & Entertainment arm Alpha, I am seeing more and more sportspeople coming to us with the thought process: What if I get injured and can never play again?

A harsh reality for any professional sportsperson and something that every athlete needs to consider.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226072030804

[SNOB]

Bloody Oath! Tim Horan has written something sensible

[Sheikh]

Probably more like Tim Horan's ghost-writer has written something sensible!

[zimeric]

there is one other big reason why they are doing 1 year deals though and thats the salary cap issue that from what im reading is not sitting very well with the players union and they will likely mount a challenge to it.