IT TOOK Dylan Shiel five days to get his head around it.

After Greater Western Sydney's thrilling preliminary final win over Collingwood last year, Shiel needed some time to come to grips with what he was missing.

A year earlier, he had departed the Giants for Essendon, which bowed out of last season's finals in the opening week. He was a Giants original, signed there before he had finished school and outside of the draft as part of the club's list build concessions.

His rise as a player matched the fledgling club's ascent, but he had to watch from afar as its best week unfolded.

"It was after watching the preliminary final that I had the realisation of how much it would mean to me just to have an opportunity to experience that week," Shiel told AFL.com.au.

"Of course, if you're going to make it you're going to want to win it, but the feeling of 'Wow, guys I'd been playing footy with 12 months earlier are now experiencing Grand Final week and what we dream of'. That was hard to accept. I'm only human."

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Shiel, who came second in the Bombers' best and fairest in his first year at the club and has been elevated to the leadership group for 2020, said Grand Final week was equally challenging as exciting.  

"It probably got to about Thursday during the week and I was like, 'You know what, whatever happens, happens. It's clearly out of my control now what the future holds'," he said.

"I had a choice to make and that's either to get better from it or get worse and that's when I started to reach out and wish ex-teammates all the best, and even reached out to (Giants coach) Leon Cameron to say how much the footy club deserved to be in the position it was in. Because it truly felt like the Giants deserved to have a crack at it."

The Giants' Grand Final was over nearly before it begun, copping an 89-point hammering at the hands of Richmond. Shiel said he left the club knowing it was a possibility the Giants tasted success, but it didn't make it easier to handle. 

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Cameron texted him back after the game, and on the night of the defeat Shiel caught up with some of his former teammates.

"In the end it came down to my relationships with players at the club and staff at the club and I was going to be really happy for them – regardless of the result. If they were to go on to win it then yeah, selfishly, it would have been hard to swallow," he said.

"But it would've been a really, really great thing that would've happened for some friends of mine."

Despite the Giants' leap, Shiel's attention is on his new side. Uncertainty surrounds the AFL season as the coronavirus crisis engulfs the League. But once it begins, there's doubts on Essendon, too, after an injury-hit pre-season.  

Shiel arrived at the club believing it could challenge for the premiership during his time, however the Bombers were far off the best last season, being thrashed by West Coast in the elimination final. The club hasn't won a final since 2004.

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"Are we trying to do the right thing to get there? Absolutely. Do we know if and when we're going to get there? Absolutely not. That's the reality of footy," he said.

"But in saying that I feel like we're setting ourselves up with an opportunity to be the best we can be. We want to be able to win flags, but there's a lot of work to be done for us."

Shiel is confident the work is being done. The Bombers' change in style, reflecting the Richmond way of handball, has come through under the guidance of senior coach-in-waiting Ben Rutten and new assistant Blake Caracella, both former Tigers coaches.

The 27-year-old says the "strategic and physical" gains the Bombers have made have been significant, and he's buoyed by the progress of players across the field – including defenders Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Jordan Ridley and Aaron Francis, and midfield pair Darcy Parish and Andrew McGrath.

He too feels ready to step up a gear. The midfielder averaged 26 disposals and missed only one game last season, as well as booting nine goals. His speed and zip out of the centre added to the Bombers' midfield unit, despite some knocks on his foot disposal at stages.

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"I think I've got another level to go to. I think if you ask Gary Ablett he'd say he's still got parts of his game he'd like to improve. We're always after forward momentum," he said.

"I'd like to be able to go to a level to help take the club where it wants to be, whether that's hitting the scoreboard more, increasing impact with the footy when I've got it, and just being more connected [with the group]."

It took Shiel time to settle into his new surrounds. Essendon's struggles at the start of the season caught more attention than he was used to at the Giants and opened his eyes to the pressures of playing in Melbourne.

"In the moment I wasn't enjoying it as much as what I'll reflect on it. It was quite an up and down year for the club and being a new player at the club and trying to develop relationships with players and clubs," he said.

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Shiel landed at Essendon in the final minutes of the 2018 trade period, having chosen the Bombers over a number of suitors, including Carlton, who wooed him right to the death – including a conversation on the last night of the trade window.

He said his close relationship with former Carlton list manager Stephen Silvagni, who had been the founding recruiter for the Giants, made it a tough call. But, he says, the right one. 

"I spent a significant amount of time talking and with him during that trade period and probably the hardest person to tell from the other clubs was 'SOS' that I wasn't going to be joining Carlton. It was hard but that's the way it was, and I'm rapt with my decision," he said.

"There's certainly times when you question and reflect on big decisions you've made in your life, but the best thing that's happened to me over the past six months or over the pre-season has been the realisation that I'm really happy with my decision.

"I'm really looking forward to the future with the Bombers because I think I've made a really good decision, not just from a footy perspective but the connections I've made at the club with players, staff and supporters of the organisation. 

"I'm pretty happy with how things are going."