Liam Shiels

Australian rules footballer (born 1991)

Australian rules footballer
Liam Shiels
Shiels playing for Hawthorn in June 2017
Personal information
Full name Liam Shiels
Date of birth (1991-04-29) 29 April 1991 (age 32)
Original team(s) The Basin / Eastern Ranges
Draft No. 34, 2008 national draft
Debut Round 10, 2009, Hawthorn vs. Adelaide, at AAMI Stadium
Height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 84 kg (185 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club North Melbourne
Number 14
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2009–2022 Hawthorn 255 (90)
2023– North Melbourne 017 0(4)
Total 272 (94)
International team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2011 Australia 1 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 1, 2024.
2 State and international statistics correct as of 2011.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Liam Shiels (born 29 April 1991) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the North Melbourne Football Club, in the Australian Football League (AFL). Shiels is a midfielder who developed into a key member of the midfield for the Hawthorn Football Club that would win three premierships in a row from 2013 to 2015. Shiels would also serve as vice-captain for Hawthorn from 2017–2018.

AFL career

Shiels was a 2nd round selection in the 2008 AFL draft, being selected at No. 34 overall. He was the youngest player drafted that year. Shiels was still a high school student when he joined the Hawks; as a result, Hawthorn needed to obtain special dispensation from Shiels' high school in order to enable him to train during periods where training clashed with his afternoon classes.[1]

Not expected to play in his first year, Shiels was training part-time and completing his schooling at Aquinas College Melbourne but after performances playing for Box Hill, Shiels was promoted to play against Adelaide.[2] He played eleven games in his debut season.[citation needed]

Shiels and Josh Gibson were the only Hawthorn players to play every game in 2011.[3]

Shiels was made joint vice-captain of the club in 2017, together with Isaac Smith.[4] During Hawthorn's poor start to the 2017 season, Shiels instigated an assessment that the club was not playing satisfactorily.[5] In the preseason, Shiels was sent to the AFL tribunal for striking Darcy Lang, but was not suspended.[6] Shiels was widely regarded as having performed well as vice-captain and player during the 2017 season, registering a personal record for number of clearances per game.[7]

Liam Shiels was regarded as having another good season in 2018, recording the sixth highest number of tackles in the league and setting a new disposal average record.[8]

Shiels, along with Smith was replaced as Co-Vice-Captain prior to the 2019 season with Jack Gunston, though he remained part of the leadership group.[9] Shiels played his 200th game during that season, which was a 24-point victory over rivals Geelong.[10]

On August 31, 2022, Shiels announced his retirement after 14 seasons, 255 games & 3 premierships with the Hawks.[11] His retirement didn't last long though, as on the 22nd November 2022, he came out of retirement to play for North Melbourne as a rookie listed player, reuniting with coach Alistair Clarkson.[12]

Statistics

Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
  #  
Played in that season's 
premiership team
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2009 Hawthorn 26 11 1 3 65 85 150 25 49 0.1 0.3 5.9 7.7 13.6 2.3 4.5 0
2010 Hawthorn 26 6 0 0 37 27 64 25 26 0.0 0.0 6.2 4.5 10.7 4.2 4.3 0
2011 Hawthorn 26 25 11 14 344 221 565 138 150 0.4 0.6 13.8 8.8 22.6 5.5 6.0 0
2012 Hawthorn 26 22 7 7 243 177 420 74 106 0.3 0.3 11.0 8.0 19.1 3.4 4.8 1
2013# Hawthorn 26 17 3 8 164 96 260 61 54 0.2 0.5 9.6 5.6 15.3 3.6 3.2 0
2014# Hawthorn 26 21 8 11 292 184 476 79 129 0.4 0.5 13.9 8.8 22.7 3.8 6.1 7
2015# Hawthorn 26 22 13 9 248 229 477 79 162 0.6 0.4 11.3 10.4 21.7 3.6 7.4 5
2016 Hawthorn 26 18 4 8 191 124 315 41 153 0.2 0.4 10.6 6.9 17.5 2.3 8.5 0
2017 Hawthorn 26 21 9 10 239 216 455 76 129 0.4 0.5 11.4 10.3 21.7 3.6 6.1 5
2018 Hawthorn 26 23 9 3 332 200 532 85 149 0.4 0.1 14.4 8.7 23.1 3.7 6.5 8
2019 Hawthorn 26 19 10 12 249 192 441 65 126 0.5 0.6 13.1 10.1 23.2 3.4 6.6 5
2020[a] Hawthorn 26 16 6 0 162 124 286 46 55 0.4 0.0 10.1 7.8 17.9 2.9 3.4 1
2021 Hawthorn 26 21 5 4 244 200 444 93 99 0.2 0.2 11.6 9.5 21.1 4.4 4.7 0
2022 Hawthorn 26 13 4 4 84 62 146 32 39 0.3 0.3 6.5 4.8 11.2 2.5 3.0 0
2023 North Melbourne 14 16 3 3 139 144 283 66 88 0.2 0.2 8.7 9.0 17.7 4.1 5.5 0
Career[13] 271 93 96 3033 2281 5314 985 1514 0.3 0.4 11.2 8.4 19.6 3.6 5.6 32

Notes

  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honours and achievements

Team

Individual

Cited references

  1. ^ Sebastiani, Paul. "Hawthorn hope to keep Shaun Burgoyne despite Suns' interest". The Australian. News Corp. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Shiels next Hawk to fly - Official AFL Website of the Hawthorn Football Club". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  3. ^ Allsop, Richard (7 September 2011). "Qualifying Final Footy Flashbacks". Australian Football League. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Hawks Liam Shiels learns leadership ropes". 13 February 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  5. ^ Niall, Jake (18 April 2017). "'Just not good enough': Hawthorn vice-captain Liam Shiels' brutal assessment of club's 0-4 start". Fox Sports. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  6. ^ Australian Associated Press (20 February 2017). "Liam Shiels cleared after stray elbow, Jack Frost suspended". ESPN. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  7. ^ Paine, Jackson (5 September 2017). "Season review: Liam Shiels". Hawthorn Football Club. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Season snapshot: Liam Shiels". Hawthorn Football Club. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  9. ^ Kennett, Jeff (28 February 2019). "Letter to members: Our captain". Hawthorn Football Club. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Hawthorn beats Geelong by 24 points at the MCG, the Saints down the Bulldogs and West Coast beats Melbourne". ABC News. 21 July 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  11. ^ Staff Writer (1 September 2022). "'It's been a great journey': Three-time premiership Hawk says farewell". AFL. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  12. ^ Twomey, Callum (22 November 2022). "Three-time premiership Hawk set to come out of retirement". AFL. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  13. ^ Liam Shiels' player profile at AFL Tables

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liam Shiels.
  • Liam Shiels's playing statistics from AFL Tables
  • v
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North Melbourne Football Club – current squad

* denotes rookie listed players

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Hawthorn Football Club 2013 AFL premiers
Hawthorn 11.11 (77) defeated Fremantle 8.14 (62), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Coach: Clarkson
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Hawthorn Football Club 2014 AFL premiers
Hawthorn 21.11 (137) defeated Sydney 11.8 (74), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Coach: Clarkson
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Hawthorn Football Club 2015 AFL premiers
Hawthorn 16.11 (107) defeated West Coast 8.13 (61), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Coach: Clarkson
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First round
Second round
Third round
Fourth round
Fifth round
Sixth round
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Australian squad2011 International Rules Series
Coach: Eade