Promising defender Sam Shaw will stay at West Lakes for at least another two years, becoming the latest player to re-sign with Adelaide.

Shaw, 21, was drafted by the Crows with pick No.45 at the 2009 National Draft. The former Oakleigh Chargers junior had some injury issues in his first couple of years at the Club, but made his AFL debut against GWS in round four this season.

Shaw, who has now played a total of seven games, said he was pleased to finally be showing his wares on the AFL stage.

“My first two years were injury-interrupted. I only played a handful of SANFL league games and not one AFL game, so to finally break into the side this season to an extent has been fantastic,” Shaw told the RAA Crows News Update - click the play button above to watch

“There were definitely times I wasn’t sure I was up to the level, or that my body was up to the level. It was good to have a full pre-season under my belt coming into this season. Hopefully, in the years to come I can continue to develop and get better and stronger.

“I’m certainly excited to re-sign for another couple of years and to be in this environment, which is a successful one at the moment.”

Shaw joins the long list of players, including established stars Patrick Dangerfield, Taylor Walker, Rory Sloane and Jared Petrenko, to commit to Adelaide this year.

“It’s an exciting time to the part of the group … and it’s an enjoyable environment to be in so there was really no question for me about going anywhere else,” Shaw said.

“I’ve really enjoyed it here. For me personally, it’s been good to get a few games … but I would certainly like to push to play a few more before the end of the year."

Crows football operations general manager Phil Harper said he was pleased Shaw had been able to deliver on his enormous potential.

“Sam has produced some excellent form and we are very pleased he has agreed to stay with our developing team,” he said.

“We were patient with him through a difficult time in his first couple of seasons with us because we knew he had the talent if he could get some more consistency with his training and playing.”

Shaw suffered a minor setback a fortnight ago when he was hit in the face with the ball early in Adelaide’s win over Greater Western Sydney at Skoda Stadium. The athletic third-tall returned to the field, but tests after the match revealed bleeding behind his eye.

He missed the Crows’ clash with West Coast last weekend, and will also watch the match against Geelong from the sidelines. However, he hopes to be available for next week’s twilight game against Essendon at AAMI Stadium.

“The injury was a bit more serious than what we first anticipated in that I had a bit of blood haemorrhaging behind my eye, which we’ve had to let settle down,” he said.

“Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to do anything for the last week-and-a-half. I’ve just started to get back into it over the last couple of days.

“I’ll see the specialist again on Monday to get a final all-clear and hopefully put my hand up for selection next week.”