Returning veteran Rhyce Shaw says surging Sydney must keep their foot on the pedal and resist the temptation to think of finals, if they want to avoid a repetition of their form slump heading into September last year.
Six successive wins have propelled the premiers to second, just two points behind ladder-leader Hawthorn.
However, Sydney face a treacherous run to the finals, with tricky draw that’s much the same as last season.
In 2012 Sydney lost three of their last four home and away games to Collingwood, Hawthorn and Geelong, all of whom they play again over the last four rounds this season.
“We don’t want to take the foot off the pedal,” Shaw said on Monday.
“I think towards the end of last year, we were maybe looking at finals a bit early.”
“But we’ve got a really great group, really strong leaders at our footy club.
“We’ve made sure that our concentration is on the next game, and that’s Collingwood.”
Shaw returned to senior football on Sunday after missing 15 games with an abdominal injury.
“At my age (31), it doesn’t hurt having 16 weeks off, you feel pretty fresh,” Shaw said.
“Last night (Sunday) I felt pretty good and I ran out the game pretty well.”
Former Magpie Shaw spent some time up forward on Sunday and could find himself playing on younger brother and Collingwood back Heath at ANZ Stadium on Saturday if employed in the same role.
“We pretty much speak every day, so I sent him a text message and said ‘watch out I might be playing on you this week, you never know.'” Shaw said.
“It would be great. I’d love to play on my little brother and give him a towel up.
“But I’m just expecting to play anywhere.
“With the way our side is going, you can’t really get a permanent spot anywhere, so you’ve just got to play your role.”
Shaw was looking forward to eventually reclaiming his halfback spot from co-captain Jarrad McVeigh, who has been a revelation in that role during his absence.
“I’m sure I’ll head back at some stage in the coming weeks and give ‘Macca’ a bit of a chop out,” Shaw said.
“He’s been down there all year, he’s not used to manning up, so he’ll drift forward at some stage.”
