“What do you love doing?”

It was the simple question from father to son that made Rhyce Shaw realise he was ready to coach again – that he wanted to coach again.

Five years after his much-publicised departure from North Melbourne, the one-time AFL senior coach is back in the hot seat and loving every moment.

As he sits down for his first one-on-one interview since becoming the Gold Coast Suns’ AFLW coach, Shaw checks his phone and apologises: “Sorry mate, just have to reply to one of my players.”

It is the little things like this that Shaw says he missed the most about being a coach.

“I’m a bit of a footy sicko,” he laughs.

It takes only a few minutes for the 43-year-old former Collingwood and Sydney footballer’s passion for his players and program to become evident. He is back where he belongs – even if, initially, he was not so sure.

MOVING NORTH

Gold Coast knew he was the right man for the job before Shaw did. When the club first pitched the idea to its Suns Academy director of coaching late last year, his initial reaction was, “Nah”.

“I was loving what I was doing, I was loving coaching the under-18s and the girls in the development (pathway),” Shaw says.

“I went home over Christmas and had a good think about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go and Dad asked me the question: ‘What do you love doing?’ That put things in perspective.

“That was a pivotal moment. My dad (Ray Shaw, 146 games for Collingwood) has obviously spent a long time in footy. He is a simple man. He asks simple questions.

“I think he knew I was a good coach and this was what I wanted to do, but I just needed that push and that little bit of confidence and Dad did that for me.”

THE LEARNING CURVE

To understand why Shaw needed convincing requires going back five years, to his ill-fated first foray into senior coaching at North Melbourne.

“You go into those situations and you think you’re ready, but you’re never ready until you get into the seat. John Longmire told me that,” he says.

“You can be prepared more than others — and I think I was pretty well-prepared. I had some really good mentors. But the circumstances that I had, it was really difficult. It was different.”

Shaw had established himself as a highly-regarded assistant coach at Sydney and North Melbourne when he was tapped mid-season to replace Brad Scott as the Kangaroos’ interim coach in 2019.

He oversaw a 7-5 record in his first half-season in charge, narrowly missing a finals berth but earning the full-time job in the process. Everything was trending up for the club and its young coach.

The Kangaroos won their first two games in 2020, against St Kilda and Greater Western Sydney. Then came Covid-19 and a seismic shift in the league landscape that Shaw – like many – was not yet equipped to deal with.

“That was really hard,” he recalls.

“People’s families weren’t there. Then the losses tally starts to really add up and it was really difficult for me, being a young coach and maybe not having that fallback, that support that was probably needed at that time.

“I don’t see that as anyone’s fault. I just don’t think it was there for whatever the circumstances were at the time.

“I don’t think we did it (supporting people) that well as a collective (industry), but I certainly had my own challenges in that time and that didn’t help as well.

“Going through that was really hard. It was. I didn’t want to be doing footy. Even though I loved it, I didn’t want to do it.”

‘I MADE SO MANY MISTAKES’

North Melbourne lost 14 of its last 15 games, ending the year at 3-14. Shaw and the club went their separate ways, with the coach very much unsure about his football future.

Shaw maintains he lacked the support network he needed while at North. But in the same breath, admits he was far from perfect.

“I made so many mistakes, you wouldn’t believe it. Looking at it now, being more experienced and having been in a few programs … I made so many errors,” he says.

“Credit to the North players for sticking with me in that time. They gave it their all. They were fantastic and those boys are really good people and hopefully they start getting the success they deserve.

“I made so many errors and I’ve reflected a lot and become a way better coach because of that.

“I tried to be someone I wasn’t for certain periods in that time, especially that Covid year. I made decisions that were based on what other people thought, not what my gut feel was.

“I think I acted differently. I wasn’t a very good dad, I wasn’t a very good husband. So you come out of that period and it’s not just about footy.

“(Now) I’m a better coach, I think I’m a better dad, a better husband, so I’ve come out of it with a really good path and strong path going forward and very much aware of the balance that is required for me to be good at being a husband, a dad and also a coach.

“Out of a shit storm … I’ve actually gained a lot.”

THE DEW INFLUENCE

The Suns gained a lot, too, when Shaw arrived on their doorstep in 2021 at the behest of then-senior coach, Stuart Dew.

Shaw says he owes a lot to Dew, who he played under and later coached alongside at Sydney before the latter’s Suns appointment in 2017.

“It wasn’t anything about coming up here initially. He was just checking in, seeing how I was going. It was good to have those people around me,” Shaw recalls.

“My old (Collingwood) teammate, Benny Johnson, and a few of the boys supported me through that time as well. But ‘Dewy’ was a real constant and when the opportunity arose (to go to the Suns) he asked me a couple of times and it was good for me.

“He’s doing (assistant coaching at) Brisbane now, which is great. He’s such a good coach. He’s a great man.”

Shaw joined the Suns as head of development. His remit was working with the first to fourth-year players, “which at that stage was 26 out of the 45 on the list,” he laughs.

“Coming here I was lucky enough to have some absolute ratbags to work with like Matt Rowell, Charlie Ballard, Ben King and those guys.

“I had some great people involved in that. That was really cool, to see them develop and know that I’ve had maybe a one per cent involvement in that and hopefully helped them.

“That was easy, just jumping straight in. Finding that balance I think was the hard part for me. I needed to get back into it, but it didn’t happen straight away.”

One per cent might be putting it lightly. Ask just about any player, male or female, senior or academy, and they will have a story to tell about working closely with Shaw to improve their craft.

GUIDING THE NEXT GEN

He is universally respected and appreciated within Gold Coast’s four walls.

The Suns scored a bargain by getting an AFL-calibre coach for their football program and they knew it. After seeing what he could do in the development space, the club decided to move Shaw into the director of coaching role for the Suns Academy.

It was a serious statement of intent and investment in the future of the pathway program. From top to bottom Shaw’s fingerprints are on the next generation of AFL and AFLW stars.

When the under-18 Girls’ Academy coach left, he added that role to his plate. It was one of the best decisions he ever made – the reason he knew he was ready to be a senior coach again, but also why he very nearly said no.

“We have a very talented under-18s group coming through at the moment so it was very easy to enjoy it,” Shaw says.

“I thought the under-18 program was a great challenge … and that sparked a bit in me and my passion for footy again.”

It was also a key reason why the Suns felt he was the right man for the AFLW job. He had already worked closely with the club’s present and future players.

“For me it was, ‘OK, I want to be at the highest level I possibly can. I want to coach again, where is the opportunity to do that?’”

“My family loves the Gold Coast. This was it. This was the opportunity. But am I ready?

“I had an amazing experience with the under-18 girls that really lit a fire in me to say, ‘OK, let’s do this again’. I knew I was capable. Let’s go.”

‘I’M HERE TO WIN’

He steps into the job at a difficult time for Gold Coast’s AFLW program. After finishing fifth and playing finals in 2023, the Suns ended 2024 in 17th with a solitary win.

Their captain, Tara Bohanna, requested a trade just hours after the club moved on senior coach Cameron Joyce.

With a four-year contract in his back pocket, Shaw has been given a runway to shape this team by a club that has faith he is the right man to lead the AFLW program back to finals football.

But he, like his playing group, is in a hurry to be great. He says there will be no looking back, only forward.

“My first meeting with the players, first day of pre-season, (I told them) ‘I’m here to win’,” Shaw said.

“I want sustained success and that is a process in itself, but I’m here to win and we’re going to do everything we possibly can to achieve that.

“I think we have a great opportunity now to start afresh – and we have spoken a lot about that.

“I don’t think I’ve shown … any vision from last year. Maybe only one or two edits if I’ve absolutely needed to. But it’s all about what we’re doing now.”

Shaw held his first press conference of the pre-season on Friday, at the same time the club announced Gold Coast engineering consultancy business, GANDEN, had recommitted as a guernsey and coaches’ partner for the next three years.

Four weeks into pre-season – and two months out from round 1 against West Coast – the coach said he was “really enjoying the process” and impatient for the season to start.

The hunger for footy he thought he had lost after a tumultuous time at North Melbourne is well and truly back.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to it. I probably do want it to come a bit earlier,” he says.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do against an opposition.

“I really love working with these players. I’m not sure I could have asked for any more from a group of players or staff coming into this program. It’s been really refreshing for me.

“I’m glad I took this opportunity because it’s about just coming to work each day knowing you’re going to get something done and this group is all about that.”