Graham Olling is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

international and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

interstate representative forward, he played his club football mainly in Sydney's

NSWRFL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sou ...

for

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

and

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

Playing career

A Parramatta junior, Olling won a Second Division premiership with Wentworthville in 1971 before entering the

with the Eastern Suburbs club the following year. There he played for three seasons before moving back to

. At the end of the

1976 NSWRFL season The 1976 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 69th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six of 1908's foundation clubs and another six from around Sydney ...

he was part of a forward pack which included

Ray Higgs Ray Higgs (born 1950) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s. An Australian international and Queensland representative forward, he played club football in the NSWRFL Premiership with Sydney's Parramatta Eels ...

Geoff Gerard Geoff Gerard (born 10 July 1955) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australia national rugby league team, Australia international and New South Wales rugby league team, New South W ...

, Ron Hilditch,

Denis Fitzgerald Denis William Fitzgerald, AM, (born 14 November 1949) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s for Parramatta, New South Wales and Australia, and a former chief executive officer of the Parramatta Eel ...

and Ray Price, which lost the Eels' maiden

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

13–10 to Manly-Warringah. The following year he played in the drawn grand final with

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

and its replay. In 1977 Olling made headlines when he became the first rugby league player to admit to taking

anabolic steroids Anabolic steroids, also known more properly as anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS), are steroidal androgens that include natural androgens like testosterone as well as synthetic androgens that are structurally related and have similar effects t ...

. It was a six-week course taken under medical supervision in the off-season and was not illegal at the time. During 1978 he was selected to play for

against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and then became Kangaroo No. 506 when he made his international début against the visiting New Zealand side. At the end of that season Olling was selected to go on the

1978 Kangaroo tour The 1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France comprised the Australia national rugby league team's fourteenth tour of Great Britain and ninth tour of France, and took place from September to December 1978. Coached by Frank Stanton and captai ...

of Great Britain and France, playing in

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

es against both nations. A broken leg reduced the amount of football Olling played in 1980 and he left Sydney.

Coaching career

Olling captain-coached Temora in 1981. He later moved to Brisbane and replaced

Darryl van der Velde Darryl van de Velde (born 3 October 1951) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, coach and administrator. He played club football in Queensland for Souths and represented his state on one occasion in 1977. After playing ...

as coach the

Redcliffe Dolphins The Redcliffe Dolphins are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Redcliffe, Queensland, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1947, they were accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership (rugby league competition), Brisba ...

, spending the 1988 and 1989 seasons in the role. He was then replaced by Mark Murray.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olling, Graham 1948 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in Australian rugby league Doping cases in rugby league New South Wales rugby league team players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league props Sportsmen from New South Wales Sydney Roosters players