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WHEN Ewen McKenzie took over the Wallabies, he told James O'Connor he had a clean slate.
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He'd heard the "innuendo" about O'Connor's behaviour in the past but McKenzie offered a chance to start afresh, and for a few weeks, the winger responded well.
After O'Connor was escorted from Perth airport by police at the weekend while drunk, however, McKenzie went to the ARU offices and pulled his disciplinary file for the first time.
The bulging contents left him with one conclusion. Drastic change was overdue.
"He's got to do something different because the frequency of this is not acceptable," McKenzie said.
"I have had a chance to look at the circumstances of the other day and chance to look at incidents over time, and from that, we are not getting the right type of behaviour from him.
"He's a good footballer and he's demonstrated change already, but he's tripped himself up. There's a track record there of similar type events in similar circumstances so a significant change in behaviour is required."
On top of a chequered past, the Perth airport incident saw McKenzie stand O'Connor down from the Wallabies indefinitely on Friday night, with NSW winger Peter Betham replacing the 23-year-old in the tour party to Africa/Argentina next week.
The official ARU investigation into O'Connor has not been finalised, but based on admissions about his behaviour, the 43-Test wing was suspended for the second time in his Wallabies career for "failing to demonstrate and uphold the behavioural and cultural standards expected within the team".
"He understood when we got to the detail of the behaviour, he said it wasn't acceptable," McKenzie said.
"The way he conducted himself in public. I don't want to go into the tin tacks of it, but we were disputing the fact the way he behaved in front of other people wasn't acceptable.
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"In the end it wasn't a fight of that from perspective, I am concerned about the issues over time. I am here to protect the interests of the Wallabies and the team."
"I think we've been pretty clear about what it means to be a Wallaby, you can look at it the other way, obviously we've got this incident but you look at the other players – what are they doing?
"Well they're not putting us into the newspapers for the wrong reasons."
O'Connor has denied to the ARU he was drunk and McKenzie said there'd been no determination about whether he was intoxicated, despite Air Asia confirming it was the reason they barred him from flying. The ARU investigation has been delayed due to "privacy" reasons with the AFP and the airline.
Witnesses have told the Daily Telegraph a dispute with his partner – and later airline staff – prompted them to deny him access to the Bali flight based on his state.
Ex-Test captain Nathan Sharpe said disappointed Wallabies teammates should be involved in discipline issues with O'Connor but McKenzie said he had made the call alone and would do likewise on any potential return.
Players have long taken issue with the failure of Robbie Deans to haul O'Connor into line, however, and McKenzie appeared to join them.
"I am not here to say everything is bad (with O'Connor), but these periodic events are bringing him down and the team … and you have to eliminate those," he said.
"How it has been done in the past isn't working long enough so we need to go and investigate that. We, and he in particular, need to make an investment in that space and find a different way because we just can't tolerate these periodic events that takes rugby into the newspapers and general public in the wrong way.
"I will be working with him but he has to make some substantial changes to how he goes about things."
McKenzie said he wasn't certain if the suspension would imperil O'Connor's ongoing contract negotiations with the ARU, or Western Force.
A Force spokesman said Friday night their position had not changed, and they would wait for the outcome of the ARU investigation.
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