Rodney Stuart Olsson (born 23 April 1942) is a former
Australian rules footballer and coach who played with
Hawthorn in the
VFL
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 ...
during the 1960s.
Olsson was a ruck-rover for Hawthorn but when he started his career he played as a half forward as well as on the half back flanks. He was a member of the Hawthorn side which lost the
1963 Grand Final to Geelong, the club he would later coach.
He spent the early 1970s in Tasmania as playing coach of
Sandy Bay. In what would be the club's strongest era he steered them to the 1971 and 1972 TFL premierships and to another Grand Final in 1973, which they lost despite winning 20 consecutive games that year. As a player, he also had success and was a
William Leitch Medal
The William Leitch Medal, named after the highly regarded former Australian rules player and Tasmanian Football Administrator William Douglas Leitch (1863-1943), was an annual award which was presented to the best and fairest player in the TANFL/ ...
ist in both 1971 and 1973.
In 1976 Olsson returned to the VFL and he coached Geelong for four seasons, twice making the finals.
References
External links
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Coaching record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Rodney
1942 births
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)
Hawthorn Football Club players
Geelong Football Club coaches
William Leitch Medal winners
Sandy Bay Football Club players
Sandy Bay Football Club coaches
Woodville Football Club coaches
Old Scotch Football Club players
Living people