WHEN Greater Western Sydney star Heath Shaw runs onto Spotless Stadium in Saturday night's semi-final showdown with West Coast, he will set a unique League record.
Shaw's 261st match (for Collingwood and GWS), when added to the playing careers of his brother Rhyce (237, Collingwood/Sydney), father Ray (146, Collingwood), and uncles Tony (313, Collingwood) and Neville (43, Collingwood), makes the Shaw clan the first direct family in VFL/AFL history to reach 1000 matches.
It's another remarkable feat for one of the game's most famous footy families, but when AFL.com.au caught up with the Giants' character to talk about the milestone, he couldn't help but kick off with some typical Shaw banter.
"It's a great achievement for some battlers from the northern suburbs of Melbourne," Heath Shaw joked.
"We've had a fair bit of help from Tony with his 313, but it's a pretty good effort for one family to have five players contribute so many games at the top level.
"I spoke to Rhyce about it this week and he was a bit shocked.
"It's obviously a massive game for the Giants on Saturday and that's all I'm worried about, but once that's over and I guess when my career is done and dusted, it'll be great to look back and have that connection with the family.
"The Shaw family name has been pretty prominent in football, especially at Collingwood, so to achieve something like this is a special little bonus."
With their father Collingwood royalty and their uncle Tony a Magpies legend, Heath and Rhyce Shaw would have grown up dreaming of spending their AFL lives in black and white stripes.
But while both enjoyed some outstanding times at the Pies, including Grand Finals and a 2010 flag for Heath, footy reality isn't a fairytale, but the 2015 Giants club champion wouldn't have it any other way.
"You could never have written a script saying the two Shaw boys would finish their careers in Sydney, one with the Swans, and one with a brand-new team that didn't even exist when he started playing," he said.
"But that's the way things have panned out.
"Rhyce's career up here was really, really good after he made the big move; he played his best footy and won a premiership in Sydney.
"If he wasn't here I probably wouldn't have come to the Giants, but I've been lucky enough to play some good footy up here and hopefully I can pinch a premiership before I'm done.
"I think out of those 1000 games, all of us have played in a total of 13 Grand Finals for three flags.
"It doesn't sound like a lot, but hey, we've still got three."
With another year to run on his contract, Shaw is hoping to add more games to the family record before he heads off into retirement.
When that time comes, it could be up to Rhyce's two young sons to carry on the legacy, but uncle Heath has other ideas.
"Hopefully they're good enough to get an opportunity at the highest level, but to be honest, I'd rather they play in the Premier League than the AFL," he said.
