O'DONNELL, Gary

Gary O'Donnell served a long apprenticeship in the Under 19s and Reserves before making his senior debut in the last game of 1987. His next game was in Round 3, 1988, and he then played 78 consecutive senior games before missing one in Round 10, 1991. He played a further 163 games in a remarkably consistent career.

His consistency is evident in his Best and Fairest Player award results: he won in 1993 (a premiership year), was runner-up in 1989 and 1990, and was third in 1991, 1992 and 1995. An impressive six top three finishes in seven years.

His leadership over the years was rewarded with the captaincy in 1996 and 1997.

He was named Most Improved Player in 1988, Most Determined Player in 1991, Best Team Man in 1992 (tied with Paul Hamilton and Michael Werner) and given the Trainers' Award in 1998. He also won the Michael Tuck Medal as best-on-ground in the 1994 night premiership.

O'Donnell became one of the best on-ballers in the League and his creative play from around the packs, and many possessions, earned him the name "Mr Reliable". He holds the Club record for games played in the No. 44 guernsey (46 matches, 2 more than Justin Madden). Gary played 20 games in 1997 followed by a solid 17 games in 1998.

He represented Victoria in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993.

He was delisted at the end of 1998 and he accepted a position as assistant coach in Brisbane in 1999. He was at Brisbane for six seasons and was part of the club during its three consecutive premierships in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

In late 2004 Gary O'Donnell returned to Windy Hill as an assistant coach to work with Kevin Sheedy and the other assistant coaches and former team-mates, Mark Harvey and Dean Wallis.

He comes from a remarkable sporting family. His great grandfather, Teddy Rankin, played 180 games for Geelong (including Geelong's very first VFL game, which happened to be against Essendon). Teddy's brother, Tom, played 47 games for Geelong. Teddy's three sons, Cliff (153 games), Bert (132 games) and Doug (9 games) also played for Geelong. Gary's father, Graeme, played played 7 games for Geelong and 16 for North Melbourne. His sisters, Shelley and Wendy, were outstanding netballers, with Shelley playing for Australia.

Gary O'Donnell was named at number 31 in the Champions of Essendon (2002).