AS PEDIGREE goes, you don’t get much better than MagpieHeath Shaw.

His dad Ray was a captain at the club, his uncleTony is a former premiership captain and Norm Smith medalist and his brotherRhyce also plays with the Pies.

But despite his lineage, the 21-year-old insists that he’snever felt the pressure of expectation.

“To be honest, there was a bit more expectation on Rhyce,being the first son coming through and that made it easier for me to slip underthe radar,” Shaw said.

Unlike other sets of brothers, such as the Roccas (Saverioand Anthony) or the Clokes (Travis and Jason), the defender says the siblingshaven’t been felt the burden of inevitable comparisons.

“Me and Rhyce are pretty close… we just go about ourbusiness and we’re not really worried about that sort of stuff. We just get onwith doing our jobs,” Shaw said.

This weekend the defender plays his 50^th game forthe club, but despite having a dad who’s done it all before, he says that hehasn’t had too much parental guidance, not in relation to his footy career atleast.

“He tries to stay out of it. It’s a good thing.

“As my dad always says, we’ve got people at the club whoknow what they’re talking about and they’re always there to help you, so youdon’t really need another person in your ear telling you what to do.

“It’s good the way he goes about it. He takes a back seatbut he’s always there for support and advice if I need it.”

Up until this year, Shaw lived with his older brother andteammate Rhyce. Since moving out on his own, the younger of the brothers admitsthat it’s not just the company he misses.

“Rhyce is a good cook so I miss that. But I try to findpeople whose houses I can go to for dinner. Sometimes I go to [Magpie headtrainer] Rohan Bownds’ house. I just ring half an hour ahead and he has dinnerready.

“Sometimes I go to my parents’ place and to my girlfriend’sas well. I try and spread it out as much as I can. I’ve worked out a goodroster system that means I rarely have to cook,” Shaw laughs.

Of course not only has Heath got his brother at the club,his likeness to Irish recruit Marty Clarke has prompted many to suggest theycould be brothers separated at birth.

“Marty’s a very good looking boy so I’m happy to be comparedto him. If I go to Irelandpeople might stop me in the street and say ‘are you Marty Clarke?’.

“If I’m going to get a free beer , I’ll definitely say thatI am. Mind you I’ll have to work on the accent a bit,” Shaw said.

In fact, such is the likeness, Heath says there was even anoccasion when Marty’s own mother mixed them up.

“We played a practice match when his parents were overvisiting. After the game his mum rang him up and said, ‘Martin I thought yousaid you were number 43 but you were 39 weren’t you?’

“He just said ‘mum, you mustn’t have been watching the gameproperly. That was Heath’.”

Despite their similar looks, Shaw admits that the pair cansometimes have communication difficulties.

“Sometimes he’s a little bit hard to understand. You have tothink a bit about what he says and then try and figure out what he’s talkingabout.

“You just say yes and nod your head and continue on. Youjust have to be polite because you don’t want to upset him.”

It’s been a big year for Shaw so far. He’s played every gameand had a best-on-ground performance which earned him the Anzac Day medal inthe club’s annual clash with Essendon at the MCG.

Shaw hopes his performance on a big day in front of acapacity crowd will help him when it comes to the finals.

“Anzac Day has a real finals atmosphere about it. Sohopefully in the next couple of weeks I can use that to my advantage andhopefully play a few good games.

“With the last two wins we’re starting to get a bit ofconfidence back but I suppose going into finals, we’ll back ourselves to winagainst any team we come up against from Geelong,to West Coast, to Sydney or Adelaide.”

Whereas some of the Collingwood faithful struggle tounderstand why other fans reserve special distaste for their beloved Pies, Shawbelieves the rivalry which exists between his side and other teams in thecompetition can be an advantage.

“Everyone wants to beat Collingwood. You either love us oryou hate us. It is a bit of us against them.

“If other teams want to beat you just because you’re Collingwoodthen they’re probably not thinking much about the 22 players running out thereand it could work in our favour.”

Shaw admits that although last year’s defeat to the Bulldogsin the elimination final has provided motivation in 2007, it’s not the maindrive behind the team.

“The experience of last year spurs you on to win this yearbut we’ve got to win this weekend to give us our best shot at finals.

“We know what position we’re in and we’re confident that wecan do anything in this finals series and nothing’s impossible.

“I suppose there’s a few older guys in the team that wouldbe thinking that this is their last chance, so there’s an element of that. Butthe [whole] 22 want to perform and play well in the finals because we see it asa good opportunity.”