- Banned
- #1
RHYCE Shaw has found football peace, inspired by his younger sister's courageous fight for life.
On the eve of his 50th game against Geelong tonight at Telstra Dome, the much-maligned Collingwood player has spoken for the first time about the car accident that rocked his family's world and put his problems in perspective.
"What's the worst thing that can happen to you on a footy field?" Shaw said.
"You can get a corkie or a broken arm or something; you don't get your life taken away from you."
Sitting across from him in a wheelchair is Laine Shaw, 20, whom her brother describes as "crazy Collingwood, mad, she just loves it".
In March, as Rhyce prepared for the Magpies' jumper presentation night, Laine was involved in a horrific car accident in Geelong. She was taken by helicopter to the Austin Hospital and placed in intensive care.
Her injuries included two broken ankles, a shattered pelvis and knee, broken collarbone and arm, broken ribs and a head wound requiring 25 staples.
Laine spent almost two months in hospital, mainly at the Epworth Rehabilitation Unit – where Rhyce already worked once a week helping patients – before returning home a couple of weeks ago.
She wants to be at Telstra Dome tonight for her brother's milestone and her aim is to be out of her wheelchair by her 21st birthday on June 19. But she will then have to rely on crutches to get around for the next six months.
"I see it as a turning point for the family," Rhyce said yesterday. "We were really close beforehand, but I don't think you can get much closer these days.
"Mum and Dad have just stopped everything for Laine, just given her their time."
'"It is just so hard to deal with when you see your little sister who is so active, she is like the bubbliest chick, and to see her sitting in a hospital bed not being able to move is pretty hard," Shaw said.
"The first words she said when she woke up was, `Make sure you get your footy tips in'. That's the first thing she said, that's how crazy about footy she is."
Every Tuesday and Thursday Rhyce and his younger brother Heath, who is also on the Magpies list, take turns in travelling to the family home in St Andrews in Melbourne's outer north-east to help with Laine's rehab.
"They are our only days off, so we go out and just sit with her, but we're also ringing her up every day," he said. "She just loves Collingwood, crazier than we ever were. She gets sh.tty when we lose and hangs it on me if I play bad."
Shaw said his sister's accident had made him stronger mentally, and it was evident in his football this season. His first game after the accident was one of his best in Round 1 against the Western Bulldogs, and he has been in the top three players for the Pies in the first 10 rounds.
"I think I have taken some of her (fighting) attitude on board to my footy," he said. "It's fair to say it has been a long time since I have enjoyed my footy this much."
The past 18 months have been anything but fun for the son of club legend Ray Shaw since his famous slip-up in the 2003 Grand Final, which allowed Brisbane's Alastair Lynch to kick one of the goals of the year.
Shaw, then 21, became the scapegoat for an angry Magpie mob after the embarrassing defeat. The abuse started when he walked off the MCG and continued last season.
"A lot of people have said I have copped it more than any other player ever," he said. "Mick (Malthouse) said he can't even remember the situation. I can, though. I went to baulk Lynchy and just fumbled and he turned around and kicked the goal.
"I can't do much about it. I don't know if they laid the blame on me, but I know when that goal was kicked we were 58 points down.
"I have been called the scapegoat a fair bit, and sometimes you just have to live with that.
"But I had a really hard slog through the pre-season (after the Grand Final) mentally and 2004 was a hard year, and I am actually pretty proud that I got through all that stuff and have been able to kick on."
Shaw reached rock bottom when he was dropped mid-year and was playing for Williamstown against Sandringham. It was shortly after that his uncle, former Collingwood premiership captain Tony, said publicly that Rhyce should move to another club.
"That was a pretty emotional day and I had probably played my best game for Willy, but the crowd was just giving it to me," he said. "When we walked off the ground the Sandy supporters were on this balcony above the race and they just hammered me and Matthew Lokan.
"It was abuse that I had never heard before and it was uncalled for. It just got too much, I mean, bloody hell I'm just going out there playing footy and people are abusing my family, saying you're nothing like your old man, that you're a jib."
Did he think of quitting?
"I'm not built like that," he says, explaining how in the under-15s he had to learn how to deal with taggers because he was Ray Shaw's son.
"I reckon I am pretty emotional, a lot of things get me revved up and I play with a bit of pride. Sometimes it all gets overwhelming, but I've learnt to control that now and just go about the game."
The fact it has taken Shaw six years to reach 50 games is not lost on his teammates. "They are into me because Frase (Josh Fraser) has played 110, Johnno (Ben Johnson) has played 108 and Leon (Davis) has played 80 or 90 odd while I'm just getting to 50 and we all started the same year," he said. "I only played four games in my first three years, so the last three have been a bit more productive."
He puts it down to Malthouse. "I was thinking people don't get this many chances," Shaw said. "Mick has played a huge part in that. At one stage I didn't know what he was doing or what he was thinking but he kept me here.
"He has been a great supporter, he believes in me and how I play footy. I don't think I would have got to 50 games without that bloke."
On the eve of his 50th game against Geelong tonight at Telstra Dome, the much-maligned Collingwood player has spoken for the first time about the car accident that rocked his family's world and put his problems in perspective.
"What's the worst thing that can happen to you on a footy field?" Shaw said.
"You can get a corkie or a broken arm or something; you don't get your life taken away from you."
Sitting across from him in a wheelchair is Laine Shaw, 20, whom her brother describes as "crazy Collingwood, mad, she just loves it".
In March, as Rhyce prepared for the Magpies' jumper presentation night, Laine was involved in a horrific car accident in Geelong. She was taken by helicopter to the Austin Hospital and placed in intensive care.
Her injuries included two broken ankles, a shattered pelvis and knee, broken collarbone and arm, broken ribs and a head wound requiring 25 staples.
Laine spent almost two months in hospital, mainly at the Epworth Rehabilitation Unit – where Rhyce already worked once a week helping patients – before returning home a couple of weeks ago.
She wants to be at Telstra Dome tonight for her brother's milestone and her aim is to be out of her wheelchair by her 21st birthday on June 19. But she will then have to rely on crutches to get around for the next six months.
"I see it as a turning point for the family," Rhyce said yesterday. "We were really close beforehand, but I don't think you can get much closer these days.
"Mum and Dad have just stopped everything for Laine, just given her their time."
'"It is just so hard to deal with when you see your little sister who is so active, she is like the bubbliest chick, and to see her sitting in a hospital bed not being able to move is pretty hard," Shaw said.
"The first words she said when she woke up was, `Make sure you get your footy tips in'. That's the first thing she said, that's how crazy about footy she is."
Every Tuesday and Thursday Rhyce and his younger brother Heath, who is also on the Magpies list, take turns in travelling to the family home in St Andrews in Melbourne's outer north-east to help with Laine's rehab.
"They are our only days off, so we go out and just sit with her, but we're also ringing her up every day," he said. "She just loves Collingwood, crazier than we ever were. She gets sh.tty when we lose and hangs it on me if I play bad."
Shaw said his sister's accident had made him stronger mentally, and it was evident in his football this season. His first game after the accident was one of his best in Round 1 against the Western Bulldogs, and he has been in the top three players for the Pies in the first 10 rounds.
"I think I have taken some of her (fighting) attitude on board to my footy," he said. "It's fair to say it has been a long time since I have enjoyed my footy this much."
The past 18 months have been anything but fun for the son of club legend Ray Shaw since his famous slip-up in the 2003 Grand Final, which allowed Brisbane's Alastair Lynch to kick one of the goals of the year.
Shaw, then 21, became the scapegoat for an angry Magpie mob after the embarrassing defeat. The abuse started when he walked off the MCG and continued last season.
"A lot of people have said I have copped it more than any other player ever," he said. "Mick (Malthouse) said he can't even remember the situation. I can, though. I went to baulk Lynchy and just fumbled and he turned around and kicked the goal.
"I can't do much about it. I don't know if they laid the blame on me, but I know when that goal was kicked we were 58 points down.
"I have been called the scapegoat a fair bit, and sometimes you just have to live with that.
"But I had a really hard slog through the pre-season (after the Grand Final) mentally and 2004 was a hard year, and I am actually pretty proud that I got through all that stuff and have been able to kick on."
Shaw reached rock bottom when he was dropped mid-year and was playing for Williamstown against Sandringham. It was shortly after that his uncle, former Collingwood premiership captain Tony, said publicly that Rhyce should move to another club.
"That was a pretty emotional day and I had probably played my best game for Willy, but the crowd was just giving it to me," he said. "When we walked off the ground the Sandy supporters were on this balcony above the race and they just hammered me and Matthew Lokan.
"It was abuse that I had never heard before and it was uncalled for. It just got too much, I mean, bloody hell I'm just going out there playing footy and people are abusing my family, saying you're nothing like your old man, that you're a jib."
Did he think of quitting?
"I'm not built like that," he says, explaining how in the under-15s he had to learn how to deal with taggers because he was Ray Shaw's son.
"I reckon I am pretty emotional, a lot of things get me revved up and I play with a bit of pride. Sometimes it all gets overwhelming, but I've learnt to control that now and just go about the game."
The fact it has taken Shaw six years to reach 50 games is not lost on his teammates. "They are into me because Frase (Josh Fraser) has played 110, Johnno (Ben Johnson) has played 108 and Leon (Davis) has played 80 or 90 odd while I'm just getting to 50 and we all started the same year," he said. "I only played four games in my first three years, so the last three have been a bit more productive."
He puts it down to Malthouse. "I was thinking people don't get this many chances," Shaw said. "Mick has played a huge part in that. At one stage I didn't know what he was doing or what he was thinking but he kept me here.
"He has been a great supporter, he believes in me and how I play footy. I don't think I would have got to 50 games without that bloke."
