Making his international debut at 18-years-old for Australia, O'Connor has earned over sixty caps for the Wallabies, and scored more than 270 points.

[5] He lived in Auckland for five years as a child, attending Rutherford Primary School, until the age of eleven when he returned to Australia with his family.

[8][9] In 2006 O'Connor suffered a ruptured spleen,[10][11] but went on to be part of the Australian Schools representative team that played against England, Samoa and New Zealand in 2007.

His teammates included Nic Stirzaker, fullback Kurtley Beale, centre Mitch Inman, and English international Danny Cipriani.

[19] After continued ill-discipline off the field, the Rebels withdrew from contract extension negotiations at the end of the 2013 Super Rugby season and he was released by the franchise.

O'Connor's release also meant the end of a potential appearance for Brisbane City in the domestic NRC had he sufficiently recovered to play.

In July 2019, O'Connor signed a 2-year deal with the Queensland Reds and Rugby Australia under what was understood to be strict behavioural clauses.

In 2021, O'Connor was announced as captain of the Queensland Reds for the Super Rugby AU season, stepping in for the injured Liam Wright.

[26] The Reds went on to have an undefeated season under his leadership (as Wright captained their only loss), including winning the Super Rugby AU title in a home final at Suncorp Stadium.

He served as co-captain with Liam Wright for the remainder of the 2021 season, including during their Super Rugby Trans-Tasman campaign.

He claimed his first try for the club against Worcester Warriors on 4 January 2014, in a match ending 22–9 to the Exiles with O'Connor scoring all 22 points.

[43] In September 2013, he was stood down from the Wallabies following an incident in which he was removed from Perth airport by Australian Federal Police.

[45] In February 2017 O'Connor was arrested together with former All Blacks player, Ali Williams, in Paris on suspicion of attempting to buy cocaine.