# Liam Shiels

Liam Shiels (born 29 April 1991) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club, in the Australian Football League (AFL). Shiels is a midfielder who developed into a key member of the midfield for Hawthorn 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.
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. He played eleven games in his debut season.
Shiels and Josh Gibson were the only Hawthorn players to play every game in 2011.
Shiels was made joint vice-captain of the club in 2017, together with Isaac Smith. During Hawthorn's poor start to the 2017 season, Shiels instigated an assessment that the club was not playing satisfactorily. In the preseason, Shiels was sent to the AFL tribunal for striking Darcy Lang, but was not suspended. 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.
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.
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. Shiels played his 200th game during that season, which was a 24-point victory over rivals Geelong.
On August 31, 2022, Shiels announced his retirement after 14 seasons, 255 games & 3 premierships with the Hawks. 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.

## Statistics

| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Votes |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | Votes |
| 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 | 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 |
| 2024 | North Melbourne | 14 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 112 | 91 | 203 | 42 | 46 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 6.6 | 5.4 | 11.9 | 2.5 | 2.7 | |
| Career | Career | Career | 288 | 97 | 101 | 3145 | 2372 | 5517 | 1027 | 1560 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 10.9 | 8.2 | 19.2 | 3.6 | 5.4 | 32 |
Notes
* ↑ 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
* 3× AFL premiership player (Hawthorn): 2013, 2014, 2015
* 2× Minor premiership (Hawthorn): 2012, 2013
Individual
* Hawthorn vice-captain: 2017–2018
* Hawthorn best player in finals: 2018
* Hawthorn best clubman: 2017
* Hawthorn most improved player: 2011
* Hawthorn best first year player (debut season): 2009
* Australian international rules football team: 2011
* Hawthorn life member

## Cited references

* ↑ Sebastiani, Paul. "Hawthorn hope to keep Shaun Burgoyne despite Suns' interest". The Australian. News Corp. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
* ↑ "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.
* ↑ Allsop, Richard (7 September 2011). "Qualifying Final Footy Flashbacks". Australian Football League. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
* ↑ "Hawks Liam Shiels learns leadership ropes". 13 February 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ Australian Associated Press (20 February 2017). "Liam Shiels cleared after stray elbow, Jack Frost suspended". ESPN. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
* ↑ Paine, Jackson (5 September 2017). "Season review: Liam Shiels". Hawthorn Football Club. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
* ↑ "Season snapshot: Liam Shiels". Hawthorn Football Club. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
* ↑ Kennett, Jeff (28 February 2019). "Letter to members: Our captain". Hawthorn Football Club. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
* ↑ "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.
* ↑ Staff Writer (1 September 2022). "'It's been a great journey': Three-time premiership Hawk says farewell". AFL. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
* ↑ Twomey, Callum (22 November 2022). "Three-time premiership Hawk set to come out of retirement". AFL. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
* ↑ Liam Shiels' player profile at AFL Tables