TWO THINGS will await Cam Rayner at the Grand Final on Saturday.

One is the spotlight. The other is Mark O'Connor.

Rayner played into the traditional 'Pantomime Villain' role during Brisbane's qualifying final loss to Geelong a few weeks ago, fanning the flames of Cat anger after a dubious double free kick threatened to turn the momentum of the contest.

It was a character Rayner seemingly relished playing. He absorbed the boos, kicked three goals in quick succession, and even dished out some feedback of his own to the Geelong faithful stationed behind him amid an emotional September clash.

But the man who sparked the incident – O'Connor's gentle push on Rayner led to his theatrics, and an off-the-ball free kick more than 100m from the play – couldn't have wished to be further away from the headline moment.

O'Connor is quiet and unassuming. Not even Wikipedia truly knows who the Irishman is, listing him as a triplet with identical twin sisters named Sinead and Brydie. That's not true, though. It's a prank – he thinks, at least – from someone back home.

"I have a few suspects," O'Connor laughed.

"I'm not actually a triplet. I have two older brothers, David and John. I have no sisters."

O'Connor had been doing an excellent job on Rayner, holding him to just one disposal in the first half, before the controversy of that qualifying final struck. For someone who left Ireland at 19 to chase his Australian dream, it put him in foreign territory once again.

"I don't usually love the spotlight," O'Connor said.

"It was just something you have to deal with and move on with fairly quickly. The outside noise can be a bit distracting sometimes. It can either help you or hamper you. You just try and make it help you as best as you can."

O'Connor doesn't want more headlines this week. Rather than stoke any lingering tension with Rayner leading into the Grand Final, he was keen to put the moment behind him and focus on the future.

"You just know these things happen," O'Connor said.

"The challenging part was probably not many people saw it. There were no replays or anything, so at the time my teammates were probably thinking … I don't know what they were thinking, really."

O'Connor is renowned for not giving much away on the field. Just ask Rayner that. He doesn't give much away off the field, either. Even the question of whether he sees Brisbane's supremely talented forward in the Grand Final again was batted away.

"I don't know … we have a few days to work through that, so we'll see," O'Connor said.

"Obviously, he's a really good player. At this time of year, you'll always be expecting to play on really good players. Brisbane has a lot of good players and Cam is one of those powerful types that are hard to play on. It was a good battle.

"It's always great to play on the best players in the competition, because you learn a lot from them too. You can't really have too many bad days when you're playing on the good guys. You can't afford to. There's a bit of pressure with it, but it's good."

Given the success O'Connor had on Rayner, it's an obvious matchup. Together with his fellow countryman Oisin Mullin, who successfully blanketed Hugh McCluggage in a tagging role, Geelong's Irish pair helped shut down Brisbane's biggest threats.

But the beauty of O'Connor is his versatility. In that qualifying final, he played on one of the game's best forwards. In the preliminary final against Hawthorn last week, he took on one of its most powerful prospects in Josh Weddle.

O'Connor held Weddle to just 12 touches, a fortnight after limiting Rayner to only 13 disposals, providing Cats coach Chris Scott with the flexibility to place his veteran Irish talent in a variety of different roles this weekend.

Even when Rayner took O'Connor deep – Rayner was stationed in the goal square for much of that match, looking to isolate O'Connor on the last line – the reliable Geelong stopper looked comfortable holding down the fort.

"It was a bit different … it's kind of exciting, in a way," O'Connor said.

"I've had a couple of games this year where that's happened. Whatever matchup I've got, because obviously it varies week to week depending on which team is tall or small, it's happened a couple of times where it's been lonely one-on-one deep in defence.

"It happened against Collingwood earlier in the year, playing on Jamie Elliott and Jordan De Goey. It's pretty daunting, but it's just all part of it. You try and set up a structure as best as you can that might help us and sometimes you'll be one-out."

O'Connor left Ireland – where he was one of Kerry and Gaelic football's brightest young talents – and arrived in Australia in 2016 and trialled with Geelong, North Melbourne, Melbourne, Essendon and Carlton before opting to sign with the Cats.

He's since played 146 games and is hoping to become a two-time premiership player on Saturday, having also been part of the club's 2022 success. In terms of choosing Geelong ahead of other rivals, it's fair to say he made the right decision.

"I had a couple of people that knew about AFL," O'Connor said.

"They just said, if Geelong offers something then they're certainly a club you'll want to be at. As soon as I stepped in the doors, I kind of got that feeling anyway. It's just worked out so well.

"Obviously, the Irish contingent has been good here and with how the club is run and the people and the players here … it's just worked out so well. I do pinch myself every now and then.

"It's been almost nine years now and it couldn't have worked out much better."