Rhyce Shaw last played for Collingwood in 2008.
Since his last game, his 94th, Shaw has played a further 138 for Sydney.
It’s at Sydney where he has flourished, finishing second in the club’s best-and-fairest award in 2009 and playing a key role in its premiership triumph three years later.
And while it’s a little off the Black and White radar, the news of his retirement on Thursday morning brings the curtain down on a select group of Collingwood players.
Shaw’s retirement means there will be no players from Collingwood’s 2003 Grand Final team still active in the AFL competition.
Heath Scotland’s retirement from Carlton last year meant Shaw was the last man standing.
It is a fine effort from Shaw, who will finish his career in excess of 232 senior games. The ’03 Grand Final loss to Brisbane was just his 23rd.
FOREVER PROFILE: Rhyce Shaw's Collingwood career.
Shaw’s retirement also means there are no players drafted by Collingwood during the 1990s still on an AFL list.
Shaw, Ray’s oldest son, joined the Magpies as a father-son selection in the 1999 National Draft (the 18th overall).
He played his first match for the club on New Year’s Eve in the infamous Millennium Match against Carlton, when an 18-year-old Brendan Fevola kicked 12 goals.
He broke through for his senior debut in round 16, 2000, but only became a senior regular in 2003.
Shaw’s pace and dash off half back enabled him to play 94 senior games for the Black and White, with a torn anterior cruciate ligament on the Queen’s Birthday in 2005 depriving him of what was developing into a career-best season.
He was traded to Sydney at the end of the 2008 season in exchange for the 46th selection in the National Draft (Luke Rounds).
Congratulations to Shaw on an outstanding career – one that may still have a few weeks left to run.
Rhyce Shaw
Debut: Collingwood v Hawthorn, Round 16 2000
Games: 232 (Collingwood: 94, Sydney: 138)
Goals: 44 (Collingwood: 20, Sydney: 24)
Honours: Sydney premiership side 2012; 2nd in Sydney’s best-and-fairest 2009, Sydney’s Best Clubman 2011
Collingwood’s 2003 Grand Final team
B: Ben Johnson, Shane Wakelin, James Clement
HB: Matthew Lokan, Simon Prestigiacomo, Richard Cole
W: Brodie Holland, Nathan Buckley, Ryan Lonie
HF: Shane O’Bree, Jason Cloke, Scott Burns
F: Ben Kinnear, Tristen Walker, Chris Tarrant
Foll: Josh Fraser, Shane Woewodin, Paul Licuria
Int: Alan Didak, Heath Scotland, Rhyce Shaw, Leon Davis
Emg: Steve McKee, Jarrod Molloy, Andrew Williams
