Rat Pack to a Shaw thing
FROM Collingwood Rat Pack member to Sydney premiership player to North Melbourne senior coach: Rhyce Shaw’s AFL journey has been anything but dull.
Shaw officially became the Kangaroos’ 36th VFL/AFL coach yesterday, capping a meteoric rise that even he didn’t see coming.
Certainly not back when he was part of the infamous bunch of Magpies larrikins that included his brother Heath, Dane Swan, Ben Johnson and Alan Didak.
The colourful deeds and occasional misdemeanours of the Rat Pack are part of black-andwhite folklore but it was difficult to envisage a senior AFL coach emerging from that gallery of loveable rogues.
However Shaw’s at-times troubled Magpies career and his transformational trade to the Swans are key reasons he is a senior coach at the age of 37.
“I really enjoy having the ability to change people’s and players’ perspectives on football and life and guide them in the direction that I’d like them to go,” Shaw said.
“I’ve learnt from experiences in footy, both good and bad, and I kind of know the path to go down and hopefully I can direct those people in that manner.
“It probably has happened a little bit quicker than I expected but I back myself.”
With his Magpies skipper dad Ray, Collingwood captain and coach uncle Tony and Heath, the Shaws have a rich VFL/AFL history with a combined total of 996 games so it shouldn’t be a total surprise.
It was Shaw’s decision to request a trade to Sydney at the end of 2008 that revitalised his flagging AFL career.