Sockeye Salmon
15-06-2008, 11:57 PM
Thanks to Twodogs for the invite. It’s fairly daunting as the standard up until now has been pretty high. Oh well, there goes the neighborhood.
This week was a really tough decision on who to profile because there were quite a few options – Dale Thomas, Travis Cloke, Alan Didak for starters; however I finally settled on Heath and Rhyce Shaw.
Heath and Rhyce Shaw? WTF?
Heath Shaw
Number : 39 (36 is Dane Swan, you get them wrong, don’t you?)
Height : 184
Weight : 83
DOB : 27/11/85
Bios from Collingwood’s player profiles
Career
The son of former Magpie captain Ray and younger brother of team mate Rhyce, Heath has enjoyed a wonderful start to his career after being selected by Collingwood under the father/son rule in the 2003 AFL Draft. Impressed in the final six games of the 2005 season after debuting in round 17 against St Kilda, Shaw then enjoyed an excellent 2006 season, finishing equal fourth in the Copeland Trophy voting and playing every game bar round one. That year he was also awarded the Gavin Brown award as the club's most courageous and the Phonse Kyne award for services to the club, both awards testament to his undoubted leadership capabilities. His ability to take his game to another level in 2007 was a credit to a player determined to make the most of his opportunities.
2007 season
Shaw took his game to another level in 2007, just his third season at AFL level, earning his second-straight top-five finish in the Copeland Trophy voting, and establishing himself as one of the premier running defenders in the competition. He played every game, including three finals, and was third at Collingwood for total disposals (487), third for contested marks (22) and first for rebound 50's (89). His 32-possession effort against the Bombers in round five earned him the prestigious ANZAC Medal, while he was close to Collingwood's best player in the first two rounds of the season against the Kangaroos and West Coast. Other notable performances came against Adelaide (round six), Hawthorn (round 13), and in the preliminary final against Geelong. Courageous and a brilliant reader of the play, Shaw is an integral member of the young brigade of Collingwood stars set to form the nucleus of the side over the next 10 years.
Draft history:
2003 AFL Draft 3rd round father-son selection (Collingwood) No. 48 overall
Rhyce Shaw
Number : 22
Height : 182
Weight : 82
DOB : 16/10/81
Career
Now a seven-year veteran of the club, the son of former Magpie captain Ray and brother of team mate Heath has played 74 games (now 85 – SS). Unfortunately each time he has appeared to be reaching his full potential, namely in the first half of both the 2005 (knee) and 2007 (hamstring) seasons, injury has cut him down. A dashing defender with excellent skills and an ability to read the play and propel the Magpies forward, he is one of the most respected players at the club and a member of the leadership group. Will be keen to enjoy a full season at senior level in 2008.
2007 season
Was arguably in career-best form in the first half of 2007, playing the first 10 matches as a dashing defender including hauls of 30 possessions against Port Adelaide in round four, 26 on ANZAC Day and 25 in the round three triumph over the Tigers. Unfortunately injury again cut him down, with a severe hamstring injury sustained at training restricting him to just four more games – the last four of the home-and-away season.
Draft history:
1999 AFL Draft 2nd round father-son selection (Collingwood) No. 18 overall
Awards :
Sockeye’s bit:
I initially was going to do Dale Thomas this week but all I could think of writing about him was that he was an arrogant tool who I had an incredible desire to smack in the face. Really that wouldn’t have been enough, would it? Besides, after watching him not get a touch today he doesn’t really worry me too much. He’s got a bit of the Jeff Farmers; goal of the day and a screamer to get on the news and not do another thing.
The reason I picked the Shaw brothers was I think there was some interesting stuff to discuss about both of them over the last few weeks (and let’s face it, this profile would have been a bit light on if I only did one of them).
First let’s talk Heath. I have to say that seeing I spent over $500K on him for my Supercoach side I’ve been pretty pissed about the way he’s been going about his footy lately. Another 22 points this week you prat.
Is there a worse player going around when he gets tagged? Heath is their Gilbee (only not as good a kick, hell, no-one is) in that they use him to provide their run from behind the ball. I noticed a few weeks back that when a forward sat on him Malthouse sent him to the wing or HF. It didn’t work too well for Heath, but the player that went back – usually Rhyce or Swan – took over his ‘Quarterback’ role and it went on business as usual. This week Swan played mainly up forward (and did well) and Rhyce was tagging Judd; Malthouse needed Heath to break his tag and give them some run, instead he gave them nothing (6 possessions, 1 tackle).
Perhaps Gia or Cal Ward will be given the job of making sure he doesn’t get any soft footy. Just as likely is the entire forward line will be given the job of making sure no-one gets any soft footy.
And now for Rhyce. Why would I bother? Rhyce isn’t very good at football but he can run fast. What I didn’t realize until today was that he can play tight and tackle. Rhyce tagged Judd today and really did a fantastic job. Now I doubt that Judd is firing on all 8 cylinders but at every stoppage he would get his hands on the ball and Rhyce would be right there to wrap him up. His tackling was a delight, pin the arms and hold the ball in, didn’t let him offload at all.
Malthouse took him off Judd and put him on Murphy at ¾ time. Inevitably Judd came alight in the last and by the time Malthouse realized his mistake it was too late.
Rhyce will go to Cooney for certain and it will be a hard day in the office for the Coon Dog but Cooney is healthier than Judd is ATM and will still be good enough to get plenty of the ball.
Ratten didn’t really send Judd to FF other than a short stint in the 3rd (why would you when Fevola was owning the Collingwood backline?) but I’m sure Eade will play Cooney out of the square from time to time and that will have Malthouse pooing his pants.
The other problem that Rhyce has is his kicking. It’s really not very good - 68% efficency today and although I couldn’t find his efficency stats for the year I did find out that he averages 4.5 errors a game. He made 8 of them against Melbourne, another 8 against Hawthorn and 7 last time out v Carlton.
I love opposition players who give us the ball back.
We're really going to smash them.
This week was a really tough decision on who to profile because there were quite a few options – Dale Thomas, Travis Cloke, Alan Didak for starters; however I finally settled on Heath and Rhyce Shaw.
Heath and Rhyce Shaw? WTF?
Heath Shaw
Number : 39 (36 is Dane Swan, you get them wrong, don’t you?)
Height : 184
Weight : 83
DOB : 27/11/85
Bios from Collingwood’s player profiles
Career
The son of former Magpie captain Ray and younger brother of team mate Rhyce, Heath has enjoyed a wonderful start to his career after being selected by Collingwood under the father/son rule in the 2003 AFL Draft. Impressed in the final six games of the 2005 season after debuting in round 17 against St Kilda, Shaw then enjoyed an excellent 2006 season, finishing equal fourth in the Copeland Trophy voting and playing every game bar round one. That year he was also awarded the Gavin Brown award as the club's most courageous and the Phonse Kyne award for services to the club, both awards testament to his undoubted leadership capabilities. His ability to take his game to another level in 2007 was a credit to a player determined to make the most of his opportunities.
2007 season
Shaw took his game to another level in 2007, just his third season at AFL level, earning his second-straight top-five finish in the Copeland Trophy voting, and establishing himself as one of the premier running defenders in the competition. He played every game, including three finals, and was third at Collingwood for total disposals (487), third for contested marks (22) and first for rebound 50's (89). His 32-possession effort against the Bombers in round five earned him the prestigious ANZAC Medal, while he was close to Collingwood's best player in the first two rounds of the season against the Kangaroos and West Coast. Other notable performances came against Adelaide (round six), Hawthorn (round 13), and in the preliminary final against Geelong. Courageous and a brilliant reader of the play, Shaw is an integral member of the young brigade of Collingwood stars set to form the nucleus of the side over the next 10 years.
Draft history:
2003 AFL Draft 3rd round father-son selection (Collingwood) No. 48 overall
Rhyce Shaw
Number : 22
Height : 182
Weight : 82
DOB : 16/10/81
Career
Now a seven-year veteran of the club, the son of former Magpie captain Ray and brother of team mate Heath has played 74 games (now 85 – SS). Unfortunately each time he has appeared to be reaching his full potential, namely in the first half of both the 2005 (knee) and 2007 (hamstring) seasons, injury has cut him down. A dashing defender with excellent skills and an ability to read the play and propel the Magpies forward, he is one of the most respected players at the club and a member of the leadership group. Will be keen to enjoy a full season at senior level in 2008.
2007 season
Was arguably in career-best form in the first half of 2007, playing the first 10 matches as a dashing defender including hauls of 30 possessions against Port Adelaide in round four, 26 on ANZAC Day and 25 in the round three triumph over the Tigers. Unfortunately injury again cut him down, with a severe hamstring injury sustained at training restricting him to just four more games – the last four of the home-and-away season.
Draft history:
1999 AFL Draft 2nd round father-son selection (Collingwood) No. 18 overall
Awards :
Sockeye’s bit:
I initially was going to do Dale Thomas this week but all I could think of writing about him was that he was an arrogant tool who I had an incredible desire to smack in the face. Really that wouldn’t have been enough, would it? Besides, after watching him not get a touch today he doesn’t really worry me too much. He’s got a bit of the Jeff Farmers; goal of the day and a screamer to get on the news and not do another thing.
The reason I picked the Shaw brothers was I think there was some interesting stuff to discuss about both of them over the last few weeks (and let’s face it, this profile would have been a bit light on if I only did one of them).
First let’s talk Heath. I have to say that seeing I spent over $500K on him for my Supercoach side I’ve been pretty pissed about the way he’s been going about his footy lately. Another 22 points this week you prat.
Is there a worse player going around when he gets tagged? Heath is their Gilbee (only not as good a kick, hell, no-one is) in that they use him to provide their run from behind the ball. I noticed a few weeks back that when a forward sat on him Malthouse sent him to the wing or HF. It didn’t work too well for Heath, but the player that went back – usually Rhyce or Swan – took over his ‘Quarterback’ role and it went on business as usual. This week Swan played mainly up forward (and did well) and Rhyce was tagging Judd; Malthouse needed Heath to break his tag and give them some run, instead he gave them nothing (6 possessions, 1 tackle).
Perhaps Gia or Cal Ward will be given the job of making sure he doesn’t get any soft footy. Just as likely is the entire forward line will be given the job of making sure no-one gets any soft footy.
And now for Rhyce. Why would I bother? Rhyce isn’t very good at football but he can run fast. What I didn’t realize until today was that he can play tight and tackle. Rhyce tagged Judd today and really did a fantastic job. Now I doubt that Judd is firing on all 8 cylinders but at every stoppage he would get his hands on the ball and Rhyce would be right there to wrap him up. His tackling was a delight, pin the arms and hold the ball in, didn’t let him offload at all.
Malthouse took him off Judd and put him on Murphy at ¾ time. Inevitably Judd came alight in the last and by the time Malthouse realized his mistake it was too late.
Rhyce will go to Cooney for certain and it will be a hard day in the office for the Coon Dog but Cooney is healthier than Judd is ATM and will still be good enough to get plenty of the ball.
Ratten didn’t really send Judd to FF other than a short stint in the 3rd (why would you when Fevola was owning the Collingwood backline?) but I’m sure Eade will play Cooney out of the square from time to time and that will have Malthouse pooing his pants.
The other problem that Rhyce has is his kicking. It’s really not very good - 68% efficency today and although I couldn’t find his efficency stats for the year I did find out that he averages 4.5 errors a game. He made 8 of them against Melbourne, another 8 against Hawthorn and 7 last time out v Carlton.
I love opposition players who give us the ball back.
We're really going to smash them.