GREATER Western Sydney's Dylan Shiel earned a 2012 NAB AFL Rising Star nomination during a rookie campaign that showed his billing as a future star was well warranted.

What makes his performances all the more impressive is that he played the entire season with considerable pain in his foot.

After 12 appearances, Shiel's season was shut down in August, when he had surgery to remove a sesamoid bone, which connects to the big toe.

"It was quite painful all of last year playing and now I've got rid of the actual pain," Shiel told AFL.com.au.

"It was just a bone under the foot that needed to be removed. It went dead.

"It's a minor bone in the foot that you don't really need.

"It was really surprising how I pulled up, walking pain-free after surgery and now running.

"I'm very happy with how it went. I'm able to run more freely and it's just a big load off my shoulders."

In his first competitive outing since the surgery, Shiel returned with a bang in Saturday's intraclub match, kicking a booming early goal and running out the game well in a positive return to action.

There were also encouraging signs from Jeremy Cameron (hip) and Jon Patton (shoulder), who also had surgery the same week as Shiel.
"A lot of these boys haven't played since August because they had operations, like Dylan Shiel and Jeremy Cameron," coach Kevin Sheedy said.

"That was their first game for more than six months (on Saturday) and they were really pleasing."

Shiel's Rising Star nod came against no less an opposition than the Cats in Geelong, tallying 21 possessions, five tackles, five inside 50s, three clearances and two goals against the reigning premiers.

He produced his best against some of the AFL's better teams, managing 28 disposals against West Coast, in just his third career game, and 16 touches and six tackles against the Sydney Swans.

The 19-year-old also took the honour of kicking the club's first goal at their new Skoda Stadium home, in round nine against Essendon.
But there were also frustrations for the former Dandenong Stingray.

"First season, it was frustrating personally," Shiel said.

"This time last year I was still in a hospital bed after having my appendix removal.

"I was lucky enough to play 12 games over the first half of the season and learned a lot with the pace of the game.

"I was fortunate to get a Rising Star nomination, but with another pre-season under my belt, I did some altitude training, so I should have a good fitness base and start to play towards my strengths."

Shiel is enjoying the midfield depth at the Giants this season and is aiming for significant improvement, starting with this Sunday's NAB Cup matches against Carlton and the Swans.

"There's probably a bit more competition at this club than at any other club because we're all the same age, we're all at the same level of development, so spots are really tight," he said.

"We won two games last year, we want to build on that, so it would be realistic to be hoping for five or six (wins).

"We're not going to be playing finals just yet, but we want to keep building up and then hopefully one day we'll be at the top of the ladder."

Dylan Shiel is a midfielder in NAB AFL Fantasy. He averaged 73.4 points in 2012. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy Hub.

James Dampney is a reporter for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_JD