Nathan Sharpe says Wallabies are disillusioned with James O'Connor Former Wallabies captain Nathan Sharpe says James O'Connor is offside with his teammates. Former Australian captain Nathan Sharpe says there is "disillusionment" within the Wallabies after James O'Connor's alleged drunken airport incident. The 116-Test veteran, who retired at the end of last year and played alongside O'Connor at the Force and in the Wallabies, said the 23-year-old had let down the team at a difficult period. "He knew where he stood in the team and I think he let everyone down in the team because at the end of the day they expected a lot more of him and he's created controversy," Sharpe told Fox Sports' Rugby HQ on Thursday night. On the outer: James O'Connor. Photo: Paul Kane Fellow panellist and former Test fullback Greg Martin said it was important that O'Connor not be pre-judged over the incident before a full examination of the facts could be made. "He was on his way on holiday, he wasn't dressed in Australian [team] gear," Martin said. There's going to be two sides to the story, too. O'Connor is meeting with Australian Rugby Union [ARU] integrity officer Phil Thomson on Friday, along with his agent and Rugby Union Players' Association boss Greg Harris. He was barred from boarding his Air Asia flight to Bali a few hours after the Wallabies 14-13 Test win over Argentina, with the airline and the Australian Federal Police citing intoxication as the reason. It is understood a heated argument broke out over seating arrangements before the airline decided to not allow him to board. The 44-Test winger, who made his Wallabies debut as a 19-year-old in 2009, recently spoke about wanting to be known for his football and not a series of controversial incidents that involved nights out or missing team meetings and functions. Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie said when he took over two months ago that he and O'Connor had talked about expectations on and off the field and were on the same page. At the end of the day, he made it very clear and [Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie] made it very clear as well, 'no more'. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens," Sharpe said. You can't be off duty, the last time [before the second British and Irish Lions Test] was 4am in the morning in his own personal time. What's the difference? There's a Test in two weeks' time, there was a Test just the night before. I don't think it's going to wash. Sharpe said it was up to the team to set their own standards internally so it was made clear to players what was and was not acceptable. "Regardless of what comes out of the ARU, it has to be treated by the players in the team in combination with Ewen McKenzie and team management," he said. At the end of the day they're the ones that have to play with him and I think, for myself, I can't see how the team thinks James O'Connor has the team in his best interests. So they're the ones that need to deal with this. If they are fed up with it, they need to let him know that they're fed up with it and not going to tolerate any more of it. The Wallabies have notched one victory from four Tests under McKenzie, and two from seven Tests this year. They play the next eight matches away from home and face South Africa in Cape Town in little more than a weeks' time. Sharpe said the incident came at a terrible time for a team trying to build a respectable set of results. "I think definitely there's disillusionment within the team, because aside from the fact they're in a hard period where the boys are trying their guts out, they're trying to get the wins on the board that everyone wants from them, it's causing distractions outside of what they're doing anyway," he said. It adds to the furnace and the pressure that really the team doesn't need right now. The Wallabies have also struggled to build a strong team culture, with McKenzie and fullback Israel Folau both speaking publicly about the importance of being close off the field to their performance on it. Sharpe said incidents such as this most recent controversy involving one of the team's strongest performers, could jeopardise those efforts. In any team sport you can't get to a point where one player is indispensable. And certainly that needs to be the case," he said. Sure, a one-off incident, everyone makes mistakes and has made mistakes, but he has had a lot of chances and at what point do you jeopardise the culture of the team moving forward, which is the most important thing in team sport. Total votes: 350.