JIM Quinn Medallist Jacob Olsson would love nothing more than one more premiership with Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong to finish his distinguished career.
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The accomplished ruckman added another accolade to a wonderful career when he took out the Jim Quinn Medal on Friday night, in a tie with Coolamon's Jerry Maslin.
Olsson has entered a number of counts over the years as favourite, or a leading chance, only to come up short so the 30-year-old had no expectations on Friday night.
So much so, Olsson didn't attend the Lions' gathering in Wagga to watch the count and was at home with his partner Brittany cleaning up the house for his 30th birthday drinks on Saturday night.
"Britt and myself were just cleaning up at home on Friday night and didn't even watch it," Olsson revealed.
"We thought it was going to be a little bit later so come about 8 o'clock I started getting some text messages asking where are you and why aren't you here because they all had drinks at the Riv, they put the live streaming on there for us. I just said I wasn't a chance at all and had some cleaning up to do."
Olsson continued on with the cleaning until a phone call from his mum Jacqui broke the news.
"I just got a few text messages off Jase Hamblin, and then the old girl and Phil Hatty rang me at the same time and said congratulations. I said what for?," Olsson said.
"Every other year you go and it doesn't finish until 10 or 11 o'clock so I thought we still had plenty of time to watch the back end of it."
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Olsson said the medal win does not sit well with him, especially given he did not rate this season anywhere near his best.
"It's a bit uneasy," he said.
"I've been saying it but I didn't think it was a very good season at all. Coming off a short run up with pre-season.
"Every other year you hook in and you're pretty keen about your body and fitness but I came in and was already behind the eight ball. I just thought with a couple of good ruckman in the mix this year, I thought it was not one of my best seasons but it's still humbling all the same.
"I've had a couple of people say that even though it wasn't your best season, you probably deserve one before that but I don't think that either. Every other year there's always been good players that deserve it."
Olsson, while only 30, knows he is close to the end of his playing days. He underwent knee surgery over the off-season and again battled with is knee late this season.
But there is still a driving force to keep playing. He won three premierships as part of GGGM's golden era as a young man and wants the current group to experience that feeling again.
"It's a funny stage of my career. Obviously when I was a lot younger, I got armchaired to those three premierships. It was just a different feel," he said.
"You were a young kid coming through and you got this awesome opportunity to play with some absolute guns of the game and you just wanted to be able to fit in. And for years to come...I wanted to be playing at a good level to keep those good players that I was playing with, their reputation going on and our reputation as a club.
"I got that awesome opportunity and now I'm at the age that everyone else was and I probably should push on to give us the best opportunity for the young blokes...it's time for me to repay the favour.
"There's a good opportunity at the moment. Then that might be the finishing feather in the cap."
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