The 33-year-old GWS Giants defender certainly isn't banking on this being his last year, but he is realistic enough to accept it very well could be his last chance to win another flag.

Just in case the two-time All-Australian does hang them up - whether he wants to or not - his brother Rhyce gave him a headstart on staying connected with the game in life after football.

The North Melbourne assistant coach borrowed Shaw's credit card details to "buy his wife a present without her knowing". Instead, an email confirming a three-game membership lobbed into the GWS veteran's inbox.

"He rang and asked me if he could borrow my credit card, and I didn’t think anything of it," Shaw said.

"Then I got a nice little email in the morning confirming my three-game membership which was a great result for me. I’ve got my membership to go and watch North but we’ll see what happens."

The off-contract Shaw concedes his body will tell him if the time is right to hang up the boots at season's end, but for now he is determined to play on and become the most-capped player in the family.

The newly-inducted AFL life member has played 282 senior games - 109 for GWS and 173 for Collingwood - with his sights set on playing another 32 to surpass the family record of 313 set by his uncle Tony.

A knee injury robbed Shaw of the chance to play in the Giants' finals campaign last season. While he detested every second he spent on the sideline, the timing allowed him to get in a full pre-season.

Sure, he was denied the chance to trade western Sydney's searing summer heat for the freezing Ireland winter like during the previous off-season, but he is fit, firing, and ready to prove a point.

"It sounds a bit stupid but the forward thinking is, if there was going to be a good time to do my knee the way I did, although I missed four games which includes two finals, which I was hating every minute of, this was it," Shaw said.

"I’ve been able to have a reasonably full pre-season and do pretty much everything in the lead up to round one. In a funny way it was sort of good timing, so in 2019 my knee is going to be right to go and my body is feeling good.

"In my 15 years of footy I’ve never had eight to 10 weeks of no running, so it was a good break. The rest has been good for my body and the knee is ready to go.

"It wasn’t the full holiday like I had the year before when I didn’t come back until January 8, it was a few weeks off in Melbourne to try to get the knee right.

"The main aim was to get myself running as quickly as possible, and to have the facilities around the club and all the people in one place was handy.

"Then to spend a bit of time in Melbourne with some physios and strength people down there that helped me. It was another different pre-season but not quite like the year before."