Family business: How the Shaws became AFL’s blue collar dynasty

It’s a family that has already given the AFL 1031 games as players and 88 in coaching, numbers that are set to increase this weekend in different categories, courtesy of brothers Rhyce and Heath Shaw.

Ray, Heath and Rhyce Shaw have played in more than 1000 combined AFL games.

Rhyce Shaw’s sudden ascension into senior coaching ranks this week is the latest honour for a family that is very much the blue collar version of AFL royalty.

The Shaws have never pretended to be anything but a hardworking crew who grew up on Struggle Street.

They have played their football in the same manner, ever since Collingwood recruited elder statesman Ray from Macleod-Rosanna in 1974.

Ray, Heath and Rhyce Shaw have played in more than 1000 combined AFL games.

He went on to become a best-and-fairest winner and club captain, but after five losing grand finals he was gone at age 27 — joining Preston in 1981 to became a dual VFA premiership coach.

He was regarded as a natural at the coaching caper, yet never got an opportunity in the VFL/AFL scene because, basically, he was never asked.

Now the 65-year-old proudly looks on as father of Rhyce who has been handed the North Melbourne role for the remainder of 2019.

He is the second Shaw to be appointed to a senior AFL job, following uncle Tony’s four-year stint in charge of Collingwood.

Tony Shaw, 58, believes Rhyce’s background will ensure he has success.

“Because he did it the hard way, with glandular fever, Collingwood letting him go and being cruelled after the 2003 Grand Final, he will be a players’ coach,” Shaw said.

“And he will be a good one.”

SHAW THING: ROO COACH PROMISES TO STAY ‘QUIRKY’

Brothers Rhyce and Heath Shaw were teammates at Collingwood.

For Rhyce Shaw, the 2003 Grand Final was a low-point for a 21-year-old who was quickly and unfairly attached to his father’s lack of ultimate September success.

Five years later he requested a trade to Sydney, a move that proved a masterstroke with two second placings in the best and fairest from 143 matches, including the 2012 Premiership.

Ray Shaw, for one, is not surprised at Rhyce’s sudden emergence in the senior coaching world.

“Both boys have always been thinking footballers since they were very young,” he said.

“Heath is the more outspoken one of the boys whereas Rhyce is more conservative.

“But I’m proud they’ve been well respected and have good friends.

“Sydney was very good for Rhyce and he was also good for them.

“The Swans gave him his own side to coach right from the start at seconds level (in the NEAFL) and I have no doubt that is the best apprenticeship in coaching.

Rhyce Shaw will coach the Roos in his first senior AFL game this weekend. Picture: Mark Stewart

“We will be going to watch him tonight and what I can assure you about Rhyce is the two biggest parts of his coaching will be communication and respect.

“I haven’t heard him speak at games because he’s been up at Sydney, but people I speak to always come back to his communication and respect.

“That North Melbourne has asked him to step-in after just six months of being there is a big feather in his cap.

“If he can keep the place happy and competitive, you can’t do much more than that. North will be watching him closely for the rest of the year.”

The brothers went north and became rivals.

The Shaw family is a dynasty. They have played a record 1031 AFL games between them — Ray 146, Tony 313, Neville 43, Rhyce 237 and Heath 292 with more to come.

The father of Ray and Tony and the Shaw family patriarch, Reg, was a handy VFA footballer.

In 1948 he won the Herald Trophy and ran third in the Liston Trophy.

On their mother Eileen’s side, the Dillon family had Tommy at Carlton, while Johnny and Kevin played for Brunswick.

The Shaw origins trace back to Germany although Tony laughs “we are like a mutt dog” given there are few different nationalities mixed in.

They were raised with food on the table but no extras, their parents not having a car so the children had to fight for one bike.

A fourth brother Kelvin played with Collingwood at under-19 and reserves level before coaching Ivanhoe in the amateurs, while Neville coached Lavington in the Ovens and Murray.

Rhyce and Heath Shaw as youngsters.

Coaching and leadership runs throughout the family with Tony’s son Brayden recently retired after a long and successful suburban captaincy record.

Tony believes Rhyce will be far from a fill-in on a long-term basis.

“Rhyce will make his own mark in the 12 games he has this year,” he said.

“I see too many coaches who follow each other, follow statistics and there are too many robots out there. Do your own thing.

“But it’s a hard caper and ultimately you get judged on premierships, which isn’t always fair.

“I have no doubt Heath will also coach. Once you take him away from the white line he’s a natural, because like Rhyce he has his old man’s footy intelligence.

“It’s in the genes. I will be at his game tonight, watching with interest and I reckon North have a real chance.”

Mick Malthouse coached Rhyce Shaw for eight years.

Mick Malthouse coached Rhyce from 2000-2008, and while he didn’t see any obvious signs of a future coach back then, he did see leaderships.

“Rhyce and Leon Davis were drafted together in 1999, and Leon was just a shy kid who quite frankly wasn’t ready for Melbourne,” Malthouse said.

“Rhyce took him under his wing and helped him through which was just outstanding.”

But Shaw’s nervous display in the 2003 Grand Final was never far from the minds of some Magpie supporters, producing a work environment that was at times unfairly hostile. F

or Malthouse his departure to Sydney was the best move he could have made.

“I love the fact he went on to play in a premiership two years after Heath did the same with Collingwood in 2010,” Malthouse said.

“Did I see a future coach in him? Not back then because he was too young but he was a sensitive person who was aware of other people’s emotions.

“He is well educated and will speak well, as he has always had his life mapped out in front of him.

“With 12 games left this year Rhyce will feel the real emotions of winning and losing, plus his players will feel that and watch how he reacts to it.

“I’ve seen other interim coaches come in and they are in this big bubble where it’s too small a sample to get a realistic view of them in that role.”