COLLINGWOOD defender Heath Shaw believes both he and teammate Alan Didak will remain at the club next year, despite the off-field transgression that ended their seasons prematurely.
Shaw, 22, and Didak, 25, were suspended after the post-round 18 incident that saw the former crash his car while intoxicated.
Didak was a passenger and Rhyce Shaw, older brother of Heath, earned a two-game rap for drinking with the pair beforehand.
Amidst speculation that the pair could be traded, the younger Shaw, speaking for the first time since his suspension, wants to remain a Magpie.
"I definitely want to play for Collingwood. I grew up barracking for Collingwood all my life, my dad, uncle and my brother played there so it's somewhere I want to be," he said on Melbourne radio station Triple M on Tuesday morning.
"I've had the last seven or eight weeks to prove I want to stay at Collingwood, and I've got pre-season 2009 to prove the same thing, and that's what I'm looking forward to."
He added that Didak is also working to ensure he remains at the club.
"I really hope [he stays]. Alan is probably our best player, and you probably don't want to let your best players go," he said.
"He's got a bit to learn, but he's on track along with me to building back that respect we lost and doing everything we can to make 2009 a good season for Collingwood.
"That first two weeks was really difficult," he said of the punishment. "I hadn't missed a game for a few years, and I'm not the best at watching my teammates run around.
"That was pretty difficult, but me and Alan sat down after that and said, 'We're going to do everything we can to make the team better'.
"We're going to train as hard as we can, and we're going to do everything possible to try and make our teammates play good footy and play in a finals series, and hopefully go as far as they can."
Shaw also admitted his regret and that it took time for his teammates to accept him again.
"I was really embarrassed about [lying] and it made life difficult for myself in that situation," he recalled.
"As soon as that happened, I sat down and apologised to everyone about that.
"Then we just sort of moved on. It took a week or two to get people back on side, but players and the admin and everyone around the club are really forgiving and they support us a hell of a lot.
"The club has been really good to us."
The tail-end of the suspension – Collingwood's finals matches against Adelaide and St Kilda – heightened a valuable lesson.
"I did the wrong thing and I know being a Collingwood footballer, we're scrutinised a bit more," he said.
"But I'm going to learn from my mistakes and I know now not to let myself get into situations like that where I can be scrutinised.
"Collingwood is a massive club and everyone wants to hear a story about Collingwood, so we have to be extra careful about what we do and who we do it with, and if we're doing the right thing.
"It's still going to be a memory for me and a memory for my season in 2008, but I'm trying to move on and look forward to 2009 and playing for Collingwood."
