when after his retirement from his playing career, he took up an assistant coaching role with the Brisbane Lions in 1999 under senior coach Leigh Matthews. His tactical insight was a key part of the Lions' rise up the ladder, culminating in three premierships from 2001 to 2003. Essendon Football Club After Brisbane's grand final loss in 2004, Gary O'Donnell announced that he would be returning to Essendon in 2005 as an assistant coach under senior coach Kevin Sheedy. On 22 July 2006, in Round 16, 2006, O'Donnell coached Essendon as caretaker interim senior coach for one game due to the absence of regular senior coach Kevin Sheedy, who injured his shoulder in a collision with defender Dean Solomon at training. Essendon drew with long-time rivals Carlton to end its then-record 14-match losing streak dating back to round two. Some people had speculated that O'Donnell's return to Essendon indicated that he was the preferred replacement for Sheedy upon the latter's retirement, but O'Donnell denied this, and on 27 September 2007 it was announced that Matthew Knights would be Sheedy's successor. O'Donnell remained as an assistant coach at Essendon Football Club until the end of the 2010 season. Return to Brisbane Lions In October 2010, O'Donnell returned to the Brisbane Lions as an assistant coach under senior coach Michael Voss. O'Donnell left the Brisbane Lions at the end of the 2016 season. Statistics Playing statistics |- |- style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987 |style="text-align:center;"| | 44 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 3 || 7 || 1 || 3 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 4.0 || 3.0 || 7.0 || 1.0 || 3.0 || 0 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1988 |style="text-align:center;"| | 44 || 20 || 5 || 1 || 196 || 109 || 305 || 41 || 35 || 0.3 || 0.1 || 9.8 || 5.5 || 15.3 || 2.1 || 1.8 || 0 |- style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1989 |style="text-align:center;"| | 44 || 25 || 3 || 7 || 277 || 176 || 453 || 73 || 32 || 0.1 || 0.3 || 11.1 || 7.0 || 18.1 || 2.9 || 1.3 || 3 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990 |style="text-align:center;"| | 10 || 25 || 11 || 11 || 346 || 158 || 504 || 69 || 32 || 0.4 || 0.4 || 13.8 || 6.3 || 20.2 || 2.8 ||