The son of Ray and brother of Rhyce, Heath Shaw developed into one of Collingwood's greatest characters of the modern era. He and his cousin Brayden (Tony 's son) arrived via the father-son rule at the end of 2003 after honing his craft with Diamond Creek and the Northern Under-18s and trained with the senior side during the 2003 finals series.

Although he was mooted as a potential debutant early in 2004, Shaw made his AFL debut late in 2005 and had an impressive start as he demonstrated his ball-winning skills in defence. To start 2006 he was a late call up against Hawthorn in round 2 after having won 35 touches for Williamstown the previous day. After that, he played in all the remaining games and rapidly became a major component of the team as a running, penetrating half-back who could launch constant attacks, as illustrated when he won the ANZAC Day Medal in 2007. His influence was so strong that by the end of the season, opposing teams were allocating negating forwards to the job of limiting him. Always busy on the field, he had been diagnosed with ADD as a kid, and his energetic style endeared him to the hearts of the Collingwood faithful. He was touted as a future leader after he ran fourth in the 2007 best and fairest and continued the momentum into early 2008 but his form wasn't quite as consistent. His season ended dramatically when the club suspended him after round 18 when he and teammate Alan Didak found themselves in off-field strife. He admitted later that it shook his feeling of being invulnerable. He responded in the best way possible by running third in the 2009 best and fairest and at the start of 2010 he joined the leadership group. A fine year ended with a premiership for the Magpies and he provided a highlight of the Grand Final Replay when he desperately lunged to smother a Nick Riewoldt kick from the square. In late 2011 he was suspended for eight games (with a further six suspended) in a football betting scandal, but he bounced back to continue as one of the foremost running half backs in the competition. Unfortunately, a number of undisciplined acts in 2013 left him on the outer and he was placed on the trade market, being traded to Greater Western Sydney in exchange for Taylor Adams.