 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.O'Connor was a selection for the 1986 Kangaroo Tour and played in all 6 tests on tour (including the pre-tour test against Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby, where he scored 22 points from 2 tries and 7 goals in a 62–12 win).He was the leading point scorer on tour for the Kangaroos with 170 from 13 tries and 59 goals from his 14 games played.