ARU pull O'Connor's Contract

[dasNdanger]

Is he a prick, or is he just a normal 23 year old? He got drunk a few times, but don't we all. Fact of the matter is he has been in professional rugby since he was 17 and probably missed out on what all his other friends were doing in their late teens, early 20s. It is not as if he hasn't been performing on the field, in fact he has probably been one of Australia's best players, but due to his off-field behavior he has been sacked.

I'm not really sure how it works 'morally-wise' for top players, but in my roving about through old Justin Marshall vids he talks about a night when he was out for a couple drinks, in by midnight - nothing wild - and got a call from some bigwig. He thought he was in big trouble, but here the call was to ask him to captain the ABs.

Now, just from that I was under the impression that when you're a top player - 23 or not - you'd better be on your best behavior. If you know this, and if you want a job, then get your frickin' act together! To me it seems that O'Connor is just flippin' the bird to the Aussie PTB, in effect saying 'I'm sooo good I can do ANYthing and you'll still want me to play!'

I'm glad it has come to this - maybe now he'll see that he's not so special.

Like I said earlier, it could also be that he can't handle the early fame and big pressure put on him, and this is his way of trying to feel like he has some control of his life. Still, he should know better, and I would also say that his close associates - family and friends - should know better, too. Usually when you see this sort of thing you'll find that the person has surrounded themselves with a bunch of enablers, people who encourage, reinforce, and justify the bad conduct.




das