Gary Odgers (born 15 December 1959) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

(VFL).

St Kilda career

Odgers came to the VFL from Ballarat club

Golden Point The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn football matches. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal. Rugby league Australia The golden point is used to determine a winner (where applicable, se ...

and was used in a variety of roles by St Kilda, but mostly as a defender. He first broke into the side in 1981, playing five games that year.AFL Tables: Gary Odgers
/ref> In 1982 he appeared in the first 17 rounds of the season, before losing his spot in the team with a shoulder injury. Over the next four seasons he was a regular fixture in the St Kilda team and probably had his best year in 1985 when he got eight

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

votes, the only time he ever featured in the count. His 1985 season ended in style when in the final round against Footscray he kicked a 60-metre torpedo goal to seal the win, having earlier given his side the lead.''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...

''
"A champagne win for Saints"
2 September 1985, p. 31 It was St Kilda's only win at

Moorabbin Oval Moorabbin Oval (also known as RSEA Park under a naming rights agreement) is an Australian rules football ground in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia at Linton Street in the suburb of Moorabbin. The ground was most notable as the home ...

that year. He was promoted to vice captain in 1986 and played 19 games that season. He only made two more appearances for St Kilda, which came in the opening two rounds of the 1987 season, but played in the St Kilda reserves grand final team that year, which lost to Carlton at the MCG.

Ballarat Football League

Odgers went home to Ballarat in 1988 and was an assistant coach at Golden Point for a year, before joining East Ballarat as senior coach. In his five years coaching East Ballarat, they made the

Ballarat Football League The Ballarat Football League (BFL) is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia. The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat Football ...

grand final four times, for three premierships, in 1989, 1990 and 1993. As a player, he won two

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

s (1990, 1992).

Coaching in Queensland

Odgers, who moved to Queensland in 1995, was an assistant coach of the

Mt Gravatt Mount Gravatt is a southern suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and a prominent hill and lookout within this suburb (). In the , Mount Gravatt had a population of 3,366 people. Geography The suburb is situated in the south- ...

team that were premiers in 2002. He was senior coach in 2003, replacing

Danny Craven Danny Craven (born 3 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda and the Brisbane Bears in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL). Playing as a rover, Craven, played in the opening four fixtures of ...

, but resigned during the season for business and health reasons. In 2006 he took over from David Hart as Redland coach and held the job for two years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odgers, Gary 1959 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) St Kilda Football Club players Golden Point Football Club players East Ballarat Football Club players Living people