“You’re always trying to play catch-up when you’re injured in pre-seasons. There’s a lot of anxiety with the medical team around tackling and contested footy and not re-injuring, whereas this year I feel free. I’m just playing footy and I’m loving it,” Shiel said. “I’ve missed one or two sessions through management this pre-season. So just being able to get a lot of time into the legs, a lot of tackling and hits, hardening the body. “Doing a lot of body work and contested work is going to help me in the grunt work. “They’ve got some really strong weapons on the outside, Essendon, so to be able to try to play a bit more inside and feed those guys is certainly something we’ve discussed.” In some ways, Shiel is following in the path of his football idol Chris Judd, who moved back to Melbourne after beginning his career interstate.

Judd changed his game from a hard-running outside midfielder to an inside, contested animal when he made the move from West Coast to Carlton. But the change for Shiel won’t be as drastic as Judd’s, who famously put on eight kilograms in his second season at Princes Park. “I think Essendon know what they got, I’m the same person just at a different club,” Shiel said. “In terms of playing a different role, not many players can go from one particular type of player to another … but it certainly is a focus of mine to give something that club needs a little bit more of. “I’m still going to play to my strengths … but trying to apply a bit more grunt to my game in order to assist the mids and the team is something that I’ll need to do.”

Back in Melbourne, Shiel has plenty on his plate. He’s about to move out of the family home in Brighton to his own place with his girlfriend and he’s just been unveiled as one of the faces of his home town Formula One grand prix. Grand Prix ambassador Dylan Shiel. Credit:Joe Armao And although the much-hyped “go-home” factor certainly played on his mind while at Greater Western Sydney, it seems the “stay-away” factor has emerged to take its place. “I actually really miss Sydney. It’s almost to the point where it’s homesickness,” Shiel said.

“It’s a similar feeling from when I went from Melbourne to Sydney as a teenager … a move is never easy.” A supremely fit-looking Shiel, who has barely missed a pre-season session with his new club, is as polished in front of the microphone as he is with ball in hand, something Essendon fans are desperate to see. And while the majority of the rhetoric throughout last year’s trade period dictated that Shiel was a certainty to come home, the move has had a bigger impact than even he anticipated. “Going up to Callan Ward’s wedding in Sydney a month ago, it was actually pretty challenging coming back," he said. “I’m rapt to be back but I did love Sydney for what it was, it was a really great place to live. I met my girlfriend up there, I was there for eight years so it was a really good part of my life.

“It was the hardest decision I’ve made.” Despite a torrid beginning to their 2018 campaign, it’s difficult to see how the Bombers – particularly with the addition of Shiel and his extra “grunt" – won’t improve this season. Loading The coming-of-age of Shiel’s former Giants’ teammate and close friend Devon Smith combined with the team’s ability to deal without injured All-Australian full-forward Joe Daniher were just some of the highlights for the red and black in the second half of last year. But Shiel offers a different perspective.

He began his career with a team that won three of its first 46 games, with an average losing margin of 11 goals. Shiel sang the Giants’ theme song just six times in his first 50 games. He knows what it’s like to start from the bottom and build towards success in September. “Let’s just see where it goes in this next year. I just don’t think we’re at a level yet where we can start talking about finals and expectations around finals. “There’s still a lot of work to be done with this group. “But certainly I think that one day we can get there. That was part of my decision to join a club like Essendon, I think there’s a really bright future.