A Parramatta junior, Olling won a Second Division premiership with Wentworthville in 1971 before entering the
NSWRFL Premiership with the
Eastern Suburbs club the following year. There he played for three seasons before moving back to
Parramatta. At the end of the
1976 NSWRFL season he was part of a forward pack which included
Ray Higgs,
Geoff Gerard,
Ron Hilditch,
Denis Fitzgerald and
Ray Price, which lost the Eels' maiden
grand final 13–10 to Manly-Warringah. The following year he played in the drawn grand final with
St. George and its replay. In 1977 Olling made headlines when he became the first rugby league player to admit to taking
anabolic steroids. It was a six-week course taken under medical supervision in the off-season and was not illegal at the time. During 1978 he was selected to play for
New South Wales against
Queensland and then became Kangaroo No. 506 when he made his international début against the visiting
New Zealand side. At the end of that season Olling was selected to go on the
1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France, playing in
Test matches against both nations. A broken leg reduced the amount of football Olling played in 1980 and he left Sydney. ==Coaching career==