Collingwood Stronger As Shaw Takes Step Up
The Age
Monday April 7, 2008
TEN minutes into the last quarter at the MCG yesterday, Kane Johnson ran off half-back for Richmond and kicked diagonally across the square in the direction of teammate Matt White. Heath Shaw soared high over the Tiger forward to mark.
The passage of play said a lot about the game. The kick to White was a touch too long, leaving him stranded under the ball and giving Shaw the edge in the contest. Rather than spoil, the Magpie defender judged, correctly, that he could mark. A Richmond player had given the ball up with a poor disposal when his side had the advantage; a Collingwood counterpart had backed his judgement and won the football back.It should be noted that Shaw gave the ball straight back, his kick up the line of the centre square going to an opponent.But it was one of the few blemishes on Shaw's game, and an inconsequential one at that. Not only had he been the general in Collingwood's defence all afternoon, he had also destroyed a potential dangerman in Richmond's Nathan Brown.Granted, Brown has not come back to his best since the sickening broken leg three years ago that almost ended his career, but his silky skills and ability to find and create goals are still a vital part of Richmond's game.Twice early in the third quarter, Shaw snuffed chances just when Brown looked set to take possession. The first time, the Richmond man was about to mark deep in the forward pocket when Shaw's right fist made contact with the ball a split second before it was in his grasp.A few minutes later, the ball came in again and Brown, seeking to keep his opponent on the wrong side of its flight, sought to push off him and run to the pocket. Shaw simply shrugged off the contact and ran straight at the ball to take possession and clear.Shaw finished the game with 23 kicks and 10 handballs and led Collingwood's possession count at the end of each quarter. His use of the ball - the final-quarter clanger and another soon after excepted - was clean and perceptive.Shaw's work took on added value in that, for all that it won by 44 points, Collingwood was well beaten in the clearances all afternoon. It became a matter of winning the ball back, and Shaw was the master of it all day."I don't think Heath has been in ripping form," said coach Mick Malthouse about Shaw's game, "but today he stepped up."When the player in question is in his fourth season of AFL football, has played only 56 games, and has finished in the top five in his club's best and fairest for the past two seasons, a small step up for him is a giant step for his team.
© 2008 The Age
