Rhyce Shaw was born to play football.
asserted
Shaw → bear → football
He grew up loving it.
asserted
He → grow → it
His father played for Collingwood.
asserted
father → play → Collingwood
It was inevitable he’d play for the same team.
asserted
he → play → team
“Playing with my little brother [Heath] at the Pies was amazing.
asserted
Playing → play → Pies
And with my best mates, Benny Johnson, Swanny [Dane Swan] and Dids [Alan Didak] … then my time at Sydney; that changed my life.
asserted
that → change → life
And to cap it off with a premiership, that was the highlight of my footy career,” he said.
asserted
he → cap → career
But when he moved from playing to coaching ranks, football began to turn sour for Shaw.
asserted
football → move → Shaw
He joined North Melbourne as an assistant coach in 2019 and was thrust into the interim coaching position when Brad Scott and the struggling club parted ways mid-season.
asserted
Scott → join → ways
In 2020, he was handed the gig full-time.
asserted
he → hand → gig
It was the COVID-affected season.
asserted
It → affect → ?
Teams moved into hubs.
asserted
Teams → move → hubs
At North, the losses mounted, and at the end of the season, Shaw took time away from the role for personal reasons.
asserted
Shaw → mount → reasons
He never returned.
asserted
He → return → ?
I thought that would be it.
asserted
that → think → ?
Once I left North, I didn’t want to be involved in footy.”
asserted
I → leave → footy
he said.
asserted
he → say → ?
But while Shaw may have left football, it never left him.
uncertain
it → leave → him
His best mate, Stuart Dew, was then coach of the Gold Coast men’s team, and he kept on Shaw’s case, telling him to come up to Queensland.
asserted
he → keep → Queensland
“[He] kept ringing me and I kept saying ‘no, no, no’,” Shaw said.
asserted
Shaw → keep → me
Eventually, Shaw relented and moved his young family to the Gold Coast.
asserted
Shaw → relent → Coast
Even then, his love for football didn’t return immediately.
asserted
love → return → football
“To be honest, I didn’t love it.
asserted
I → love → it
But I knew that was what I was good at,” he said.
asserted
he → know → what
He took up a position coaching girls in the Suns’ academy, and over time, the father of three boys slowly rediscovered his love for the game.
asserted
father → take → game
So last year, when the club realised it needed to invest in its struggling women’s program, Shaw stepped back into the spotlight and the coaches’ box.
asserted
Shaw → realise → spotlight
How he speaks about football now makes it clear how rejuvenated he is as a coach.
asserted
he → speak → coach
“The women have taught me more in 12 months than I’d learnt in 10 years.
asserted
I → teach → years
I’ve learnt a lot of patience.
asserted
I → learn → patience
It’s helped me think about the game a lot more, and I think the girls have driven me to be better for that,” he said.
asserted
he → help → that
While other AFLW teams might think simply changing a coach will change their results, Gold Coast knew a complete overhaul was needed.
uncertain
overhaul → think → results
And so they invested.
asserted
they → invest → ?
“It started with the phone call to Erin Phillips.
asserted
It → start → Phillips
That’s No.1.
asserted
That → ’ → ?
She’s been unbelievable for our program (as general manager of women’s football) in terms of her experience, her ability to see the game from a different perspective, her elite life that she’s lived over the last 20 years,” Shaw said.
asserted
Shaw → see → years
Phillips brought head of high performance Anthony Gallomarino from Port Adelaide, while physio Angela Flack joined from the Australian women’s rugby league team.
asserted
Flack → bring → team
“We’ve revamped the whole program, we’ve made some really tough decisions, we want to be the best AFLW program in the competition,” Shaw said.
asserted
Shaw → revamp → competition
At the risk of sounding like Jane Bunn, get ready Melbourne – here come the Suns.
asserted
Suns → sound → Bunn
But this season, they’ve rocketed up the ladder and are eyeing a top-four finish.
asserted
they → rocket → finish
Part of this resurgence are “the Great Eight” from the Suns’ controversial academy: highly talented, elite teenage athletes from the local area who have been coached at Carrara since they were 13 years old.
asserted
they → talente → Carrara
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
