Liam Shiels - The Invisible Centre | Thebigtip

Hawthorn look different in 2011. Yes, there are the usual culprits making the game look like second nature, but something has changed. Sam Mitchell's job has become easier; this can be directly related to the emergence of the relatively unknown third year player Liam Shiels. Most AFL viewers would be a little clueless at the mention of his name, but this midfielder, along with Shane Savage and Matt Suckling, are breathing life into what used to be a hungover premiership team.

The youngest player picked in the 2008 draft, taken at number 34, is now looking the goods. His form is revealed in his stunning statistics as he averages 23 disposals, 7 marks and a touch over 5 tackles a game. He is putting premiership player and teammate Shaun Burgoyne to shame. In comparison, Burgoyne, who has also played every game this year, can only boast statistics of 17 disposals, 3 marks and just under 4 tackles per game. No offence to Shaun Burgoyne, who is as polished of a player as they come, but the elevation of Liam Shiels has been nothing short of extraordinary. He alone is producing numbers that shows what a talent-filled team Hawthorn is, with the highest amount of tackles at the club for 2011 and the highest amount of marks, and that is with Buddy dominating the competition.

In Dream Team (my fantasy league of choice, caused by the ‘too dramatic for my liking’ point system that Supercoach offers), Shiels averages 105.6 points a game, with his most recent outing against the Western Bulldogs being a prolific one where he amassed 122 points. To say I am spewing that I overlooked and missed out on this DreamTeam gem is an understatement. He has grown a mighty $178,000 in price and now is sitting pretty at a premium price of $400,200. also known as A-Grade midfielder price. I'm just a little jealous I missed that boat.

He will will line up for his 27th AFL game this weekend and maybe, just maybe, the audience will look away from the hard-at-it number 5 or silky skills of number 9 and notice the small, courageous ball winner that dons the number 26.