Just where the hell is James going?

The news media have gone ape today with this James O’Connor business. Apparently he’s off to the Rebels, according to them — signed, sealed and delivered.

Well, that’s not quite the case. He hasn’t actually signed with anyone and isn’t able to until his ARU contract is finalised. You’d reckon that the Rebels would be the hot favourite though, wouldn’t you?

Or are there more twists and turns to this story yet to come?

I’m glad that in the recent post about this subject on GAGR I said “looks ready to re-sign with the Force” and “pending its official confirmation”. That was deliberate — you don’t want to look too foolish if it doesn’t come off. And today it didn’t come off, spectacularly.

Now, there are two sides to every story but today we’ve only had one, from the Western Force.

They said they’ve been negotiating with him for four-and-a-half months and it reached its peak today when he failed to respond to their final offer. The Force called their offer “fair and reasonable” and “extremely generous terms”.

They weren’t specific on what those terms and conditions were but the breakdown in negotiations related to “contract length” and “remuneration”. I think they were keen to keep him for at least two seasons.

They also said that JO’C had delivered to them, through his lawyer, his own conditions. Yeah, you heard that right. They didn’t extrapolate as to what that might have entailed but there is speculation that it related to aspects of the Force player recruitment strategy.

“The terms that were being asked of us by his management were, in our view, unacceptable irrespective of the player in question,” coach Woody said.

Force CEO Vern Reid said “We’re still a young club and it is fundamental in our development that everyone is committed to building a cohesive culture that defines a ‘team’ ethos. The terms being imposed by James’ management did not correlate with that objective”.

I interpret that to mean ‘we’re pissed off, you’re greedy, self-centred and who do you think you are!’ Or words to that effect….

Well, it’s a professional business these days and you can’t blame a bloke for trying to get the best deal for himself, whatever that may mean. Loyalty doesn’t really come into it anymore.

That said, I’d imagine a lot of people might support what the Force have done today. You get the feeling that they were exasperated with this drawn-out affair and felt that he may have over-stepped the mark with his demands (from their perspective).

So, after all the initial excitement of last week JO’C really is off. This is a great shame as he was someone who was needed over there, not only from an on-field perspective but off-field, to market as well.

With David Pocock, he was the future. It also sounded like he actually wanted to stay there.

I suppose they’ve freed up some dosh with his impending departure. What the Force need now is a dose of creativity and penetration in the backs to complement their excellent forward pack. Can they recruit someone of similar quality?

Sure, Ma’a Nonu would be a good option but they’ve also got to replace Mitch Inman and David Smith as well.

James Stannard has shown in the last few weeks what he can do as a playmaker, so I think he’s been a surprising plus and one to further develop.

Willie Ripia has been a disappointment, and you can probably put most of that down to being restricted by injury, although I think he still needs to prove himself.

Rory Sidey and Paddy Dellit have grown during the season but there needs to be more thrust in the centres. Cameron Shepherd is injury-prone and unable to consistently stay on the field long enough to develop a run of form.

The prospect of JO’C actually turning up at the Melbourne Rebels is probably the next best outcome. A potential combination of Kurtley Beale, JO’C and just maybe Danny Cipriani is a little mouth-watering.

Has he burned all his bridges at the Force? Is it really over? Will he go to the Rebels, or somewhere left-field? I can’t wait for the next Bieber instalment… whatever that might bring!