On Saturday night, emerging defender Sam Shaw will line-up in the 2012 NAB Cup Grand Final before having made his AFL premiership season debut.
In his first two years at West Lakes, Shaw endured a nightmare run with injuries, which deprived him of an opportunity to break into the Crows team and limited him to only a dozen or so games with SANFL club Glenelg.
The 20-year-old spoke about the challenges of the past two seasons and his hopes for 2012 in the upcoming Season Guide edition of 'The Pride' magazine due out later this month.
Here's an excerpt from 'In the Words of Sam Shaw'...
"IT'S DIFFICULT when you move interstate to play football and you don’t end up playing for 18 months.
"At times, you question, ‘what am I doing?’
"And why aren’t I at home and back with my mates, who are doing their own thing at university, going out and having fun while I’m training for something that at times seems so far away?
"The first year or so was tough and I admit there have been moments that weren’t great, but if you keep it in perspective it’s not too bad and I think I managed to keep my head above water.
"I dealt with it as best as I could anyway.
"... After playing only a couple of games for Glenelg in my first year, I managed to string several games together in the latter-part of last season.
"It was a good confidence boost and helped me prove to myself I could play at SANFL level.
"Those games gave me a bit more confidence in my body, knowing that I could withstand playing consecutive games rather than being in one week and out the next.
"I got a bit of continuity and started to feel good about myself, my playing ability and my physical ability.
"It put me in good stead and allowed me to set goals for the pre-season and moving forward.
"... I’ll play wherever I can get a spot at this stage.
"I played mostly at half-back as a junior because I was quite scrawny and not many kids wanted to play in the backline, but I wasn’t too fussed.
"I’ve been doing quite a bit of work at training as a key defender while Ben Rutten has been injured.
"It’s been good experience playing against guys like Taylor Walker and Kurt Tippett because they’re quite a bit bigger than me.
"It’s been interesting and a good learning curve."
To read the full version of 'In the Words of Sam Shaw' check out 'The Pride: Season Guide', which will be posted to eligible members and hit newsagency shelves later this month.
