On October 31, 1999, the Magpies’ Recruiting Manager Noel Judkins read out Rhyce Shaw’s name with pick No. 18 (selected under the father-son rule), thus confirming that the Shaw family would retain a day-to-day role at Victoria Park.
Rhyce’s uncle, Tony, coached his final senior game two months prior.
At only 18 years of age, Rhyce Shaw was considered to be something of a long-term project as a result of a nasty bout of chronic fatigue during his teenage years.
“Rhyce is lightly built, very quick, good skills, excellent competitor. He really established himself as a potentially good player at the U18 carnival this year playing for Vic Metro. He had glandular fever and chronic fatigue in 1997 and only played local football in 1998, so 1999 was his first year as a Knights player. He could play as a midfielder, on the ball, or even as a goal kicking forward” - Collingwood Recruiting Manager Noel Judkins on Rhyce Shaw.
It took Shaw several years to find his feet as a senior footballer in the black and white jumper, and few would have predicted that the Collingwood boy from Diamond Creek would end up playing a key role in the Sydney Swans’ 2012 premiership triumph.
He made a brief appearance in the ill-fated Millennium Game (which saw a teenage Brendan Fevola kick 12 goals to smoke the Magpies by 88 points on New Years Eve) during the Ansett Cup but was forced to wait until round 16, 2000 to pull on the boots in a senior game.
An error-ridden opening to the 2001 season against the Hawks saw Shaw return to the reserves for the remainder of the year. He did not resurface again until the corresponding fixture in 2003, by which time he had begun his maturation as a senior footballer.
Shaw was a member of the team that was beaten by the Brisbane Lions in the 2003 Grand Final (a game all Pies fans would rather forget) but remained a semi-regular in the black and white until the end of the 2008 season.
At the age of 26, Shaw was traded to Sydney in exchange for draft selection No. 46 (Luke Rounds).
In his time at Sydney, Shaw has cemented himself as one of his new side’s prime movers. He has twice finished runner up in the club best and fairest and was a key member of its 2012 premiership team.
The 1999 National Draft, and indeed the 1999/2000 player exchange period, proved to be one of Collingwood’s most important.
Finishing the ’99 season stone motherless in 16th place, the Magpies sought to build from the ground up.
Josh Fraser (pick No. 1), Danny Roach (No. 7), Shaw (No. 18), Leon Davis (No. 34), Ben Johnson (No. 62), Dale Baynes (No. 75), Nick Stone (No. 82) and Michael Clark (No. 88) were added to the list via the National Draft, Steve McKee, Mark Kinnear and Andrew Ukovic arrived as a result of pre-draft trades and Shane O’Bree and Simon Hawking joined in December after they were picked up in the Pre-Season Draft.
Noel Judkins’ player profiles in the December 1999 edition of In Black and White make for interesting reading more than a decade down the track.
“He captained the AIS Academy squad to play the Irish in 1999. He’s a lightly-framed guy with very good agility and speed. He’s very efficient in everything he does and he’s got a good football brain. Off the field he’s been doing year 12 and seems very level-headed. He has been a captain-type person all his life, and he’s accepted the situation of being the number one draft pick and the expectations that go with that very well. He’ll take time to develop and people have got to be patient. He is likely to play in the ruck and on the forward line in the reserves initially at Collingwood” - Judkins on Josh Fraser.
“Leon is from the town of Northam in WA. He is lightening fast and has performed very well for Perth in the Westar comp. He’s highly skilled, got a great vertical jump for a small bloke, very attacking, a great talent. Michael Broadbridge (coached the WA U18’s) said he’s the quickest player he’s ever coached” - Judkins on Leon Davis.
“Ben is a left-footer from Greensborough, plays mainly in the midfield and wins a lot of the ball. Represented Victorian Metro at U16 and U18 level. He made U18 All-Australian this year playing mainly at half back” - Judkins on Ben Johnson.
“A left-footed ruckman from Myrtleford, we traded our pick three and Clinton King for pick seven and McKee. He fills a big hole for us” - Judkins on Steve McKee.
“We expect him to be a permanent midfielder for us, taking Clinton King’s place. He’s got good off-the-mark speed, good change of direction, good user of the ball, good safe hands” - Judkins on Shane O’Bree.
Fraser, Shaw, Davis, Johnson, McKee and O’Bree would all go on to play in Grand Finals for Collingwood.
Johnson is the greatest survivor of them all. Drafted with pick No. 62, he will tick over into his 14th season at the club in 2012. He has played 232 games since debuting in round one, 2000, twice finishing runner up in the Copeland Trophy.
Most memorably, Johnson played an important role in the 2010 premiership as a hard-running back flanker who was at the coalface when the ball eluded St Kilda’s Stephen Milne with seconds remaining in the drawn Grand Final.
And as for Danny Roach? The seventh overall selection in the draft was beset by hip injuries in his two seasons at Victoria Park.
The Tasmanian product was described by Judkins as “a very versatile player…people would be yet to decide where his best position is going to be. He’s got a great vertical jump, very agile, his second efforts and ability to chase and tackle are very good. Strong overhead mark”.
Roach was selected for one senior game, taking on Richmond on a Friday night in round four, 2001. He finished with one tackle for the match and due to injury was never able to showcase his obvious talents.
Roach’s manager Dan Richardson told The Age that Roach had undergone hip surgery earlier in the 2001 season, saying “it looks like something that might trouble him long-term”.
President Eddie McGuire looks like the cat that got the cream after his club secured two of the finest young talents in the land in the form of Rhyce Shaw and Josh Fraser.
With the versatility of Fraser, the magic of Leon, the run and carry of Johnson, some of O'Bree's hard ball gets, the dependability of McKee and a bit of dash from Shaw, we should be set for a tilt at the flag by 2002.
Draft day 1999 - the lives of 87 young men and their families altered forever.
A debilitating hip injury thwarted the career of Danny Roach (pictured in early 2001) after only two years at Victoria Park.
A history of pick No. 18
1986 - Mark O’Keefe (Geelong)
1987 - Patrick Browne (St Kilda)
1988 - Anthony Stevens (North Melbourne)
1989 - Robert Wren (Richmond)
1990 - Danny Millar (North Melbourne)
1991 - Matthew Hogg (Carlton)
1992 - Leigh Colbert (Geelong)
1993 - Simon Beaumont (Carlton)
1994 - Robert DiRosa (Geelong)
1995 - Brent Williams (Adelaide)
1996 - Gerrard Bennett (Geelong)
1997 - Mark Alvey (Western Bulldogs)
1998 - Daniel Schell (Fremantle)
1999 - Rhyce Shaw (Collingwood - Father/Son)
2000 - Daniel Kerr (West Coast)
2001 - Shane Harvey (Essendon)
2002 - Kris Shore (North Melbourne)
2003 - Llane Spaanderman (Brisbane)
2004 - Cameron Wood (Brisbane)
2005 - Max Bailey (Hawthorn)
2006 - Leroy Jetta (Essendon)
2007 - Alex Rance (Richmond)
2008 - Luke Shuey (West Coast)
2009 - Luke Tapscott (Melbourne)
2010 - Matthew Watson (Carlton)
2011 - Brad McKenzie (North Melbourne)
The 26 players selected with pick No. 18 in the National Draft have combined to play 1369 senior games at an average of 52.65 games per player. Six players (O’Keefe, Browne, Wren, Millar, Shore and Spaanderman) never managed a senior game, while Stevens played 292. Only Shaw, Kerr, Bailey, Jetta, Rance, Shuey, Tapscott, Watson and McKenzie are still on a senior list. Stevens, Shaw and Kerr are the only premiership players to be drafted with pick No. 18.
