WHERE ARE THEY NOW ? Seven Hills boy made rugby league big-time
by John Macdonald
When he was 20 , Graham Olling was running around for a lark with his mates in the Seven Hills B-grade rugby league team .
“ I loved the game , but I loved the drink too ,” he said , the biggest problem was I liked drinking down at the Seven Hills pub ,” - from pub to pomp !
Ten years later , the super-fit prop was being introduced to royalty before the First Test on the 1978 Kangaroo Tour .
“ I thought , `geez , this is amazing , my family is back home , sitting up watching this ’, I used to go to the pub and go somewhere and sit up watching Tests and here I am ,” Olling said .
How Olling got there is the tale of a long journey without parallel in rugby league . Nothing came easily to ‘ Shovels ’ Olling , who got to the top step by step , club by club , team by team , every skill was hard learned .
Like the left foot step he would employ as a front-rower which he learned from one of his Seven Hills mates , John Delaney . “ He was a very good sidestepper and he ’ d take me down the park to practice . It was full of mounds and potholes and he showed me how he learned to step by dodging the potholes ,” Olling said .
Olling started as a teenager with Seven Hills Rugby Union club , switched to league with Seven Hills , then went to Wentworthville , where he won a premiership with the A-grade team and backed up to win the Second Division grand final with Wenty . His Wenty games had attracted the attention of NSWRL scouts . Olling chose Easts and soon realised he would have to get up early if he wanted to keep pace with his team-mates .
Olling spent three seasons with Easts , mainly in second grade , at a time when
Graham and his wife Linda celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in Bali .
they had great forwards like Arthur Beetson and Ron Coote . He was cut when the 13-import rule was introduced in 1975 , but not before he had come under the influence of the great Jack Gibson , Easts ’ coach .
“ They were the foundation years , Jack worked on skills a lot , like hit-and-spin and catching under pressure .”
Gibson had faith in Olling but not Big Artie Beetson who Gibson thought Olling wouldn ’ t make it . Famous misjudgement !
Another Seven Hills old boy , former international Keith Campbell , suggested Olling relocate to the Parramatta Eels .
There followed two losing grand finals with the Eels , Australian representation , a Kangaroo tour and one bit of controversy , him taking steroids .
“ Like everyone , I ’ d heard about them and was concerned I was losing weight during the season ,” Olling said .
He consulted legendary City Tatts trainer , George Daldry , who referred him to a doctor , but Olling discontinued the course after six weeks .
“ The steroids may have helped a bit aerobically but had no effect on my weight ,” he said , adding he built up to his Kangaroo-tour 106-kilogram size through weights and gym work , and the controversy had passed .
Kangaroo coach Frank Stanton praised Olling ’ s Kangaroo contribution , but injury kept the prop out of the deciding Third Test .
Olling was in the best form of his career in 1979 and was picked in the NSW team to play the touring Great Britain , but injured his knee in the preceding club game , and there followed 18 months striving to fix the problem .
The prop played three seasons with Easts and then six seasons with Parramatta
Graham Olling shovels off a pass for Parramatta in the 1977 22-0 grand final replay loss against St George .
before hanging up the boots at the end of the 1980 season .
Olling accepted a captain-coach ’ s role with Temora in 1981 and represented Country against City later that season . After his stint with Temora , Olling and his family moved to Scarborough , on the water , just north of Brisbane . The body was still good after all the poundings .
The committed Christian walked a lot , rather than ran , but did compete in a half-marathon a few years earlier . He also worked in a distillery blending spirits .
“ I loved it . It ’ s highly technical and interesting but being a beer man , I never drank what we produced ,” he said .
In keeping with his history , Olling opened a fitness centre , is now long retired , but also bought a block of land on a hill .
“ We built a three-storey house , we wanted a view of the water and can see the Glass House Mountains .”
He ’ s still involved in the church , there are no half-marathons , but the body has held up well .
“ My wife Linda and I like to go down and walk along the beach .” As you do .
Then there are visits from the kids and grandkids . “ The Lord ’ s been good ,” he said . As Jack Gibson might have said of
Olling : did good , played fine .
( This is an updated version of a John Macdonald story that originally appeared in the now-defunct Blacktown Sun newspaper ).
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