Heath Shaw spoke to CTV after winning the ANZAC medal for being best on the ground in Collingwood’s magnificent 16-point win over Essendon on Wednesday.

In front of a crowd of 90,058, the 21-year-old gathered 32 possessions, ran tirelessly all day and was responsible for many significant forward forays.

He described it as a win that can’t be topped so far in his 33-game career, and credited incredible belief within the team as being one of the main reasons why the side showed so much resolve in clinching the win.

“It’s the best victory I’ve ever played in, 90,000 people there on a big day like that, and we played the full four quarters of football and to come out with a win is just amazing,” Shaw said immediately after singing the song in the rooms.

“At three-quarter time we had that belief and we played out that last quarter like we did the first three, we were always going to win after that.

“I think we were about $3.50 which would have been pretty good to get on us. This team, we believe in ourselves that we can do anything and today was all about belief. Four full quarters of football and it’s amazing what pays off.”

After making his debut towards the end of 2005, the younger brother of team-mate Rhyce made his mark in 2006 by playing 22 games and finishing fourth in the club best-and-fairest.

Remarkably Shaw has taken his game to yet another level in the early parts of 2007, and with his courage, ability to read the play, pace and fine disposal, is establishing himself into one of the competition’s most valuable running defenders.

When asked what’s behind his stunning rise to prominence, Shaw gave a typically selfless response, both in terms of his entire career and his ANZAC Day performance.

“I’d have to say I put it down to all the boys, we work well together.

“I happened to come out with the medal, but it was a team performance, everyone really played well. You couldn’t really pick a few guys out of there, everyone really played well and the intensity was awesome.”