With a number of those players he was a young starter in the 1980 Wallaby side which won the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney in the 3rd and deciding game that year.
He made his First Grade début from the bench for the Dragons in Round 3 of the 1983 season against Western Suburbs at Kogarah Oval, scoring a try on debut.
A week before he was selected for NSW for the first time, O'Connor was hit in an accidental high tackle from Canterbury-Bankstown's Steve Mortimer in a club match at Belmore, leaving him with a broken nose (and contributing to his nickname of "Snoz").
[citation needed] The Bulldogs half-back was cited over the incident but received support from O'Connor at the league judiciary when he concurred with Mortimer's explanation that his arm had come up from off the ball when he made the tackle and that there was no intent of a high shot.
[citation needed] Following his performances for NSW in the first two games of the 1985 Origin series, O'Connor was selected for the mid-season tour of New Zealand.
With his natural pace and great side-step, many of his international rugby league appearances were on the wing, such was the depth of Australia's three-quarter talent with players like Gene Miles, Brett Kenny, Mal Meninga, Dale Shearer, Tony Currie, Andrew Ettingshausen and Mark McGaw available to the selectors during his era, though he did play most of his State of Origin career in his preferred centre position.
In front of 36,895, Wigan won an ultimately try-less game 8–2, with Manly's only points coming from a penalty goal from O'Connor.
[13] O'Connor scored tries in all three matches of the 1988 State of Origin series, which Queensland won 3-0 for the first time, despite two of the three games being played in Sydney.
[14] Of his 18 tests, O'Connor only played three games at centre, all three during the 1988 Ashes series against the Great Britain Lions following the international retirement of Kenny, and the unavailability of both Miles and Meninga with injury.
Following this he was selected for Australia's mid-season tour of New Zealand where he played in all three Trans-Tasman Tests against the Kiwis as the Bob Fulton coached Aussies won 3–0.
Playing on the wing on a freezing night at the Pioneer Oval in Parkes (NSW), O'Connor, as did the other Australian goal kickers used (captain Mal Meninga, an on début Laurie Daley, and former Manly teammate Dale Shearer), had an off-night with the boot, missing all three of his conversion attempts.
[citation needed] Following the 1990 NSWRL season, in which he had taken over the captaincy of the Sea Eagles following Paul Vautin's move to Eastern Suburbs, O'Connor ruled himself out of contention for the 1990 Kangaroo Tour because of a recurring hamstring injury.
During the third and final game of the 1991 State of Origin series, O'Connor was hit in a high tackle from Queensland centre Mal Meninga in the sixth minute, leaving him with a broken nose and two black eyes.
[15] O'Connor and Manly captain Paul Vautin travelled to England to play for the Alex Murphy coached St. Helens for a short spell during 1988–89, but his performances were largely disappointing, culminating in the side's 27–0 1989 Challenge Cup Final defeat at Wembley Stadium against Wigan.