Do Queensland Reds players want wayward Wallaby James O’Connor at the club?

SPECULATION is rife that Queensland will lure wayward Wallaby James O’Connor home, but do Reds players want him at the club?

James O'Connor has played 44 Tests for the Wallabies. Picture: Darren England.

ON paper it looks a match made in heaven — a struggling Super Rugby side signing a 44-Test Wallaby star to stop the rot and help lift it back up the ladder.

That’s the scenario unfolding at Ballymore, with speculation rife that the battling Queensland Reds will lure wayward Wallaby James O’Connor home next season.

But do the Reds players want O’Connor at the club?

If you listen to the Queenslanders quizzed about O’Connor this week, they have hardly thrown open the doors and shouted from the rooftops to herald his potential arrival.

Reds skipper James Horwill was asked on Wednesday if he was concerned that signing O’Connor — whose national contract was torn up last year following a string of off-field offences — would compromise Queensland’s culture.

“I am not sure where things are with James,” Horwill said.

“I’m not really across that, but I do know the organisation and the coaches would only make decisions in the best interest of the team.

Skipper James Horwill says Reds management will make the right call on James O’Connor.

“And that’s what they pride themselves on.

“Any decision that’s made by anyone on any player will be done based on what is in the best interests of the entire playing group and for the standards that this organisation, this team upholds.

“I have full faith in the board and the organisation and the coaching staff to do that.”

James O’Connor’s list of misdemeanours

It’s hardly a glowing endorsement, or one that urges Queensland boss Jim Carmichael to snap up a player with the undoubted skill set to light up the Reds backline.

It also comes on the back of Reds vice-captain Will Genia’s comments on Tuesday that attitude — rather than rugby ability — was his biggest concern about O’Connor.

“If he was to come, it would have to be for the right reasons. From a cultural point of view that’s more important,” Genia said on Tuesday.

“We don’t want to just say yes to anybody and everybody.’’

James O'Connor has played 44 Tests for the Wallabies. Picture: Darren England.

Horwill admitted to having spoken to Reds management about the prospect of recruiting O’Connor, but emphasised that player input should not determine potential signings.

“I’ve had discussions with the organisation. I think that in the end it is up to the guys in charge in that role,” he said.

“You do consult players and I guess probably more so senior players, but I think you can get in trouble by consulting 35 people across the group.

“If you did that for every player, you’d never actually sign anyone.

“I have had conversations with people about certain players, not just James. I’ve got full faith in the organisation that whatever decision they do make about any player that it is in the best interests of the team.”

James O’Connor’s Super stats

— 59 Super Rugby caps (38 with Force between 2008 and 2011, and 21 with Rebels between 2012-13)

— 507 career points (306 with Force, 201 with Rebels)

— 13 tries (10 with Force, 3 with Rebels)

— Has just 15 career wins in six seasons of Super Rugby

— Is the leading Rebels point-scorer (201) and second leading Force point-scorer (306) of all time

— Has been his club’s leading point-scorer in three of his past four seasons (Rebels 2013, Force 2011, Force 2010)

— Led the Rebels for run metres (751), linebreak assists (9) and try assists (8), and offloads (15) and was second for tackle busts (32) in 2013

Originally published as Do Queensland Reds players want wayward Wallaby James O’Connor at the club?