For the 30-year-old, whose game is epitomised by his speedy run and carry, and frequent bouncing of the football, mistakes and ‘having a go’ are part and parcel of the game style he loves to play.

“A lot of people make mistakes on the footy field and the game is like that, you’ve got to make mistakes,” Shaw told reporters at the SCG on Monday.

“I made a whole heap of them on the weekend, but you’ve just got to make sure you get into the next contest and get the ball and run.

“That’s what I get paid to do and that’s what I do, and even if you do make mistakes as long as you’re trying it doesn’t really matter.”

Shaw’s daring runs from the back half this year have played a key role in the Swans success.

Shaw also leads the competition in bounces taken this season with 98, with his brother Heath in second place with 80.

The defender said his dashing form is a result of the confidence the Swans have put in his ability to run and deliver this season.

“Horse (Swans coach John Longmire) has given me the confidence to do that and the boys want me to do that, so I just do that,” he said.

“You’ve got to try and find that balance (between attack and defence) if you can, I probably cop a bit of stick from the boys saying I probably don’t man up as much as I should, but I try to defend as much as I can, but I really like attacking and trying to get the ball and kicking long and running with the ball.

“I try to get the balance right but it usually tips over the offensive side.”

This Saturday’s game will be also be Shaw’s second effort at Grand Final glory, almost a decade after he lined up in the 2003 Grand Final for Collingwood.

But Shaw’s eight-disposal game that day and Collingwood’s loss to the Brisbane Lions will be far from his mind this weekend, but that doesn’t mean the defender has forgotten the pain of losing an AFL Grand Final.

“It’s been a while, it’s been ten years I think since my last (Grand Final) and that didn’t go too well, so hopefully we can turn the tables this week,” he said.

“(I don’t remember) too much really. It was a pretty rough day for all involved that day.

“It was really exciting at the start, but terrible at the end.”

The defender, who made the transition from Melbourne’s AFL ‘fish-bowl’ to Sydney in 2009, said he always had confidence the Swans would have their chance at Grand Final glory.

“I was hoping (to get to a Grand Final again). That’s the aim of me coming (to Sydney), was playing finals and playing Grand Finals and we’ve got that opportunity this week and it’s really exciting,” he said.

“We played pretty good footy last year and we didn’t quite get there.

“We played alright in patches of the finals last year, but this year we’ve got a steely determination and from day one we thought this was our opportunity and we’ve shown we can play some pretty good footy this year and we did that on the weekend.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s decider, Shaw acknowledged the importance of the Swans’ defensive structures against the high-scoring Hawthorn side.

He said while both teams will enter the match in good form, Hawthorn’s scoring ability must be blocked if the Swans are going to take out the honours.

“We’re playing some really good footy and the Hawks have shown that even when Adelaide got ahead they came back and really played great footy,” he said.

“We’ve seen it first hand out (on the SCG) only five or six weeks ago how good they can be and they’re taking some real confidence in as we are.

“We pride ourselves on our defence and we’re hoping that it can stand up again this week because we know if it doesn’t we’re going to get blown out of the water, so we just have to do what we’ve been doing all year.

“If we do that, we’ll hold ourselves in good stead.”