Australian Football

A skilful and extremely pacy rover - indeed, in the view of some, the quickest player in South Australia at the time - Freddy Odgers commenced with Sturt when league football resumed after World War I in 1919. He had already proved himself an accomplished footballer playing in the wartime Patriotic competition, and he was a key factor in the Blues achieving what was effectively, given that they had won the premiership in the last season before the war, a second consecutive flag in 1919. Between 1919 and 1922 he played 56 senior games for Sturt, and booted 41 goals. He also represented South Australia once. 

In 1923 he transferred to New Town, in Tasmania, where he joined his former Sturt team mate and 1919 premiership captain-coach Bill Mayman, who had been playing with the club since its debut in the TFL the previous year. Odgers spent just one season with New Town, but it was an auspicious one. He had an extremely consistent year, helping the club to its first ever TFL Grand Final, which was only narrowly lost against a much more experienced and finals-hardened North Hobart combination. Most reports rated Odgers as New Town's best performer on Grand Final day. He also achieved selection for the TFL on several occasions during the year, including the noteworthy match against a South Australian 'B' combination in Adelaide in which the TFL scored a memorable 32-point win. 

In 1924, Odgers crossed to Penguin and promptly became that club's first ever Cheel Medallist as the best and fairest player in the North West Football Union. He spent two seasons at Penguin before moving to North Launceston where he was playing coach from 1926 to 1929. He transferred to Longford as a player for the 1930 season.

Author - John Devaney, with updates by Andrew Gigacz