Ireland calling but O’Connor content to stay in Geelong
Irishman Mark O’Connor says there is still more he wants to achieve in Geelong after shrugging the lure of home this week by signing a new two-year deal.
The utility’s new contract ties him to the Cats until the end of 2026 despite the 27year-old still harbouring ambitions of playing Gaelic football for Kerry in the All-Ireland Championship.
“It’s definitely something I want to do but it’s hard to know when,” O’Connor said of representing his County.
“There is too many things to tick off here (at Geelong) for now.”
O’Connor, who often plays Gaelic football with Dingle during the off-season, said he regularly weighed up his future in the AFL – and whether to head home – but was content to stay on in Australia, his new deal set to keep him Down Under for at least 10 years.
“It’s always something that comes up, at the end of every year because I have very strong connection to home,” he said.
“But I’m very happy here now... I’m very settled with my decision.”
Last month, O’Connor said he was keen to extend his contract “sooner rather than later”.
He expanded this week it was so he could focus solely on chasing team success this year.
“You don’t want to have your own selfish thoughts creeping in,” he said.
“So I was pretty keen to get it done,” he said.
The key to O’Connor’s lengthy stay at Geelong has been in building relationships, further strengthened by the ability to “merge his two worlds” when teammates visited Dingle.
“As time goes on you spend a bit more time with people and start to enjoy it a bit more, and get a bit more comfortable, even with the wider community,” he said.
“When I went home in the off-season, it was very much separate.
“It was almost like two different lives, but as people came over and spent a bit more time there it was the blending of the two.”
O’Connor enjoyed a taste of home during Geelong’s 75point win against North Melbourne on Sunday, a traditional Irish-tune playing out at GMHBA Stadium after he slotted a goal — not a common occurrence considering it was just his eighth goal from 114 appearances.
“It was pretty funny, and the crowd seemed to enjoy it,” he said.
“Hopefully I can kick a few more and it might get them up and about again.”
Geelong is riding high after a perfect 5-0 start to 2024, which is the first time the club has done so since 2017 – also the same year O’Connor made his debut.
The Irishman flagged believed squad depth was the Cats’ weapon this year, adding it gave the Cats confidence knowing a player “could come in and do a job”.
O’Connor said his own job come Saturday night against Brisbane was not yet decided upon, though there was the option of applying a tag on twotime Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale as he has done in the past.
“It’s probably something we’ll have up our sleeves, but I’ll leave that up to Scotty and the coaches,” he said.