He attended secondary school at Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane,[4] where he played rugby for the 1st XV.

During his final year at Ashgrove in 2002, he was selected to represent Queensland at the Australian Schools Rugby Championships.

[5] In 2003, O’Connor was invited to join the Reds Rugby College from the GPS club in Brisbane.

[4] At the start of 2007, O'Connor tore a cruciate ligament in the final training run before a trial match against the Crusaders.

[4] In the latter part of 2009, O'Connor joined the Northland province in New Zealand, where he played in the ITM Cup for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.