‘It’s time to plant some roots’: O’Connor comes full circle at the Force

James O’Connor is back where it all began nearly two decades later. The 36-year-old playmaker has signed a one-year contract at the Western Force, returning to the club that announced him to the rugby world as a 17-year-old prodigy.

Like fellow veteran Bernard Foley at the Waratahs , O’Connor returns to his former club not just to mentor the next generation but also to compete for a spot in the Wallabies squad for next year’s World Cup.

O’Connor left Perth due to a contract dispute with the Force in 2011, moving to Melbourne to play for the Rebels. The move proved ill-fated, and he found the high expectations on him too much to handle.

As part of his return to the Force, O’Connor will also work as an attack coach for the club’s Super AUS team. If he were mentoring his younger self, what would he say?

“But what I would say to that young man is just know there’s someone there, if things go badly wrong or if something doesn’t go right or if you are in trouble, you come talk to me. I’m here. I’m not going to judge you.

“No matter how dark it gets or whatever happens, You’ve got someone you can come to and talk to and we’ll figure it out together.”

O’Connor had his first official coaches meeting on Tuesday in Perth after arriving in the city last Saturday. He is expecting his first baby with his partner Bridget and has moved to Cottesloe Beach.

“It was the happiest time of my career (at the Force), it really was. It was because it was all new as well; I’d just started my career, but it was a magical time,” O’Connor said.

“There’s been incredible times in my career, but I think that at the Force it was the most joyful I’ve been ...

“If I look back chronologically, it was the worst move I’ve made for my happiness, my rugby, for everything, but I needed to make that move for me to be able to be the man I am today.”

At the Rebels, O’Connor was forced to take on game management roles he wasn’t equipped to handle. As a young player, he was blessed with speed and agility, but controlling a team was too much.

“No one would know that I was managing that stress; you might think watching me on the field I didn’t have a care in the world,” he said.

“But I could never fully be present during the week because I was worried about things like, ‘Have I done the work?’ Because maybe I hadn’t done the work and I knew my body wasn’t in the place where it needed to be.”

After a season in Melbourne, O’Connor wanted to return to the Force. But an incident at Perth airport in September 2013 saw him stood down by the Wallabies . Australian Federal Police alleged he was intoxicated and not allowed to board a flight from Perth to Indonesia. O’Connor denied being drunk but admitted to engaging in a heated argument over seating arrangements.