Rhyce Shaw slighted in North Melbourne coach announcement

North Melbourne has confirmed Rhyce Shaw as its full-time senior coach, despite a report of an alarming pay divide.

Rhyce Shaw has been confirmed as North Melbourne’s full-time senior coach.

Kangaroos chairman Ben Buckley fronted a press conference on Thursday where the club announced Shaw has agreed to a rolling contract that includes a guaranteed period of two years.

It means Shaw will be coach of the Roos through to the end of 2021, when the club and coach will then have options to review the terms of the deal.

Live stream the 2019 Toyota AFL Premiership Season on KAYO SPORTS. Every match of every round. Live & anytime on your TV or favourite device. Get your 14 day free trial

“We wanted the best the industry could offer, and someone that would embrace the past, the present and the future of this club,” Buckley said.

“We found that person in Rhyce.”

He also described Shaw as someone who could “get the best out of our players”.

He said the club conducted a widespread review of available options to replace Brad Scott, but found Shaw’s body of work during his eighth-week reign as caretaker coach impossible to ignore.

“Once we saw a body of work across four of five games, we started to see the impact and improvement in the output from the players,” he said.

“We discussed the role with other candidates. I can assure our members that our process was exhaustive. We did extensive analysis on a number of potential candidates, which helped to form a short-list.”

Shaw fronted a press conference earlier this week declaring he hadn’t won the vacant role yet, despite North Melbourne’s emphatic form reversal since he was promoted to replace Brad Scott.

The Roos were widely tipped to award Shaw’s performance as interim coach following wins over Richmond, Gold Coast, Collingwood and St Kilda recently.

Despite the club being won over by Shaw’s form, the rookie mentor will reportedly have to swallow the public slight of the club paying him less than half of what the club reportedly offered Sydney coach John Longmire to jump ship.

The Herald Sun first reported North Melbourne is facing the prospect of having to payout former coach Scott’s 2020 salary if he doesn’t take up a senior coaching position for 2020.

That salary payment would also be included on the club’s 2020 football department soft cap.

The report also raised an embarrassing slight towards Shaw.

The former Collingwood and Swans defender is reportedly facing a salary of around $400,000 to $500,000 per season.

Rhys Shaw has a seat at the table.

The same report outlines that the Kangaroos were prepared to pay Longmire up to $1.2 million per season to return to Arden Street.

Shaw said two days ago he couldn’t even be confident of winning the vacant coaching role, despite other prospective candidates understood to have declined to interview in the belief Shaw was over the line.

After winning four of his first five games in charge, Shaw will attempt to snap a run of three defeats when North host the Hawks at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night.

The losing slide has seen the Roos slip to 14th on the ladder with a 7-11 record, effectively putting them out of finals contention.

Key defender Scott Thompson is a strong chance to play against Hawthorn after rupturing a testicle in the loss to Brisbane, while Shaun Atley will be given every opportunity to overcome a knee injury suffered in last week’s loss to West Coast.

Majak Daw’s attempt to complete a stunning AFL comeback from a shattered pelvis is over for this season after he sustained a hamstring injury at VFL level.

Shaw also revealed Sam Wright will play his last game for the club in the VFL at the weekend, the 136-game defender unable to conquer persistent foot and ankle injuries that have curtailed his career.

— with AAP