After a roller coaster first two seasons at the club and having not seen his family in the process, Barry O'Connor jumped at the chance to return home to Ireland and his visit was special to say the least.
Deciding to not tell his family and give them a heartfelt surprise, O'Connor reflects on his time spent at home as one that he will cherish for years to come - adding to his motivation for self improvement in 2022 and beyond.
"It was great to get home, it has been such a long time, almost two years in the end and just to see family and friends again was pretty special," O'Connor said.
"I got a good stint over there, Horse was kind enough to let me have Christmas at home so I was appreciative of that.
"When we finished in the Hub, i wasn't too sure what my plans were but Qatar were able to help me with a business class flight home so I jumped at that opportunity, and decided not to tell the family and leave it as a surprise.
"It was a brilliant 24-48 hours and reuniting with everyone. I was pretty surprised how much joy it brought them, and seeing the look on my parents face having not seen them for two years, is something I'll remember for a long time."
While he enjoyed spending times with friends and family, and some down time after another COVID-impacted AFL campaign, O'Connor also worked tirelessly behind-the-scenes to ensure he returned to pre-season training in peak physical condition.
Respected for his attitude and willingness to learn, O'Connor says he pushed himself to train alone and was conscious of putting in enough work despite knowing it was the off-season.
"I did a lot of training on my own which can be hard at times but we got great facilities back at my home village, so I was there most days," he said.
"You're always worrying if you're not doing enough in the back of your mind so I made sure I got all the work done and I came back in decent enough shape to attack pre-season.
While O'Connor is yet to make his AFL debut since his arrival at the end of 2019, he has his sights firmly set on his professional development and will not waiver from working hard at his craft.
Knowing that consistency is key, O'Connor is determined to play a brand of footy that competes amongst the best but knows there is a lot of hard work in order to achieve that.
"The goal remains the same - and that is to keep improving and get good enough for senior footy.," he said.
"Obviously anyone who hasn't debuted, that will be their main goal, but there are a lot of smaller goals and steps to take before that.
"I just got to concentrate on working on the track every day, focus on every individual skill, do basics well and then hopefully if i can do that consistently and well enough, I'll eventually get to where I want to."
