A people person with footy smarts and a work ethic to boot, Rhyce Shaw has taken three and a half seasons to make the rapid transformation from rebounding defender to head coach.
Shaw will mentor North Melbourne in a caretaker capacity following Brad Scott's resignation, starting with Friday night's clash with Richmond at Marvel Stadium.
The 37-year-old could soon be in the mix to replace Scott in a full-time capacity, especially if the Kangaroos finish the season strongly.
Shaw is young and inexperienced as a coach, having hung up the boots in 2015, but now has a golden chance to audition for the top job.
John Longmire, who mentored Shaw as both a player and assistant coach, can't speak highly enough of the former member of Collingwood's famed rat pack.
"One of Shawy's great strengths is working with people, players in particular. That's not just being friends with them, he'll also drive them and make sure the standards are pretty good," Longmire said, having called Shaw on Sunday night to congratulate him.
"He's very good with relationships, he understands people and he works extremely hard. That's always a good mix.
"And he's a fantastic fella. I'm sure he'll be really good in that job."
Shaw spent the final seven seasons of his 237-game AFL career at Sydney, learning plenty from Longmire.
The backman made a seamless transition into coaching at the same club, taking charge of its NEAFL outfit for two seasons then the Swans' AFL back line in 2018.
Shaw only left Sydney to return to Melbourne for family reasons, having been named assistant of the year at the AFL Coaches Association awards in both 2017 and 2018.
Longmire, having also watched former right-hand man Stuart Dew leave the Swans to become Gold Coast's senior coach, is ecstatic that Shaw has been given such a great opportunity at North.
"He's a terrific person," he said.
"I'm thrilled he is getting a go. It was the same when Stuey Dew went to coach Gold Coast.
"We want to keep developing our players and our people."
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