When the Cats players speak about Mark O’Connor, they’re united on one thing.

Without fail, O’Connor’s teammates say they weren’t surprised by the Irishman’s breakout 2019 season.

While the rest of the footy world expected little from the seven-game defender heading into the year, inside the walls of GMHBA Stadium the expectations were a little different.

For everyone who came across the path of the boy from Dingle, they knew his dedication and perseverance were going to take him places.

“Day one, he was just different,” close friend and teammate Esava Ratugolea says.

“I met him probably at the combine a couple months before we got drafted together.”

“He was just a ripper bloke and willing to work hard and I knew as soon as he came here, he didn’t know how to kick, but every time we’d be out having lunch he’d be always be the last person to come in and have lunch because he’d always be practicing his kicking or his handball.”

“He’s so diligent with everything he does, from his footy to things out of footy to his diet, he’s always just looking to improve in something.”

It’s an observation that wasn’t lost on the Cats’ skipper Joel Selwood either.

“When he first stepped through the doors he just wanted to learn, Selwood says.

“He wanted to work hard and he’s a great example that anything’s possible because he could have been turned around really quickly if he didn’t have that attitude.”

“He wanted to be ready, he came over here to play AFL footy and he’s not wasting any of his time.”

O’Connor hit the ground running in Geelong, playing his first senior game less than seven months after leaving Irish shores to sign a contract with the club.

“It’s pretty crazy to think that you could take him out of the game he was playing, he hadn’t kicked the footy much,” Selwood says.

“We put him out on a wing to start because of the running power more than anything, but then we realised that actually, this kid is really hard to play against. You might not get a kick on him if you put him close enough.”

“He can win the ball and turn it back the other way, having the game in front of him, he’s just such a power athlete, huge runner and gives us so much help down that backline.”

It was a strong first finals performance against the Demons to end 2018 that set the groundwork for 2019 to be O’Connor’s year.

Selwood doesn’t believe the rapid improvement of ‘Mark the Shark’ will stop here either.

“He’s only been kicking the ball around for three years and he’s taken his game to just an unbelievable level already,” he says.

“He’s going to take his game to the next level in 2020 and then on from that. He’s going to be a special player for Geelong footy club.”

Club vice-captain Patrick Dangerfield notes the Irishman’s elusiveness as one of the Cat's main weapons. 

“His innate ability to evade tackle (is impressive),” Dangerfield says.

“He can turn really, really quickly and we’ve seen that at AFL level where he’s running one way and he’ll turn on his left foot and he’s got a beautiful left foot for someone who’s been playing the game for such a short period of time.”

“He’s just so determined to want to be best the best version of himself that he possibly can be. His rise has been quite astonishing with how he’s cemented his place in our back six.”