Midfielder Dylan Shiel has officially retired from the AFL, the former GWS and Essendon star has revealed on social media on Saturday.
Shiel played 234 games since debuting for the Giants in their inaugural season in 2012, with 135 spent in the orange and charcoal while the other 99 was achieved while donning the sash between 2019 and 2025.
His career-best season came in 2017 at GWS where he was named as an All-Australian, before he made the move back to his home state of Victoria.
Shiel’s 99-game tenure at Essendon saw him finish as runner-up in the club’s best-and-fairest award in 2019, but injuries and inconsistency struggles over the following years saw him fail to feature in over 20 games in a season between 2020 and 2025.
Shiel was in and out of the Bombers senior side this season, featuring in just 14 games, though he has managed a respectable 21.1 disposals and 3.0 clearances in those fixtures.
The 32-year-old put together one of his best performances of the season in the Bombers first loss of Round 24, collecting 30 disposals, eight marks and 448 metres gained against Carlton, as well as six score involvements.
Shiel thanked both clubs in an emotional statement, where he revealed some of the dark moments of his career.
“To the Giants. Thank you for taking a chance on an 17-year-old kid who didn’t know much, except that he loved this game with everything he had. You gave me a beginning, a family, and a foundation I’ll always be proud of,” Shiel wrote.
“To the Essendon Football Club. Thank you for bringing me home. For seven years, you allowed me to pull on the red and black, represent a proud club, and be part of something bigger than myself. The experiences, the supporters, the relationships inside the four walls have all left a lasting mark on me.
“Along the way, I’ve made friendships that will outlast football. Teammates who became family. Coaches and staff who invested in me as a person, not just a player. And fans who supported me through it all, the highs, the lows, and everything in between.
“But the truth is this; my journey wasn’t a fairytale. It was hard. It was heavy. It broke me open more than once.
“There were seasons where it felt like all I did was fight – for form, for confidence, for a place, for belief. Yet every time the game tried to push me out, something inside me pushed back harder. I’m proud of that maybe more than anything else.
“Thank you to everyone who believed in me, challenged me, supported me, or simply walked beside me. You helped me become the man I am today.
“Football is done for me now. The boots come off, but the gratitude, the love, and the lessons, they stay forever. (My) next chapter begins.”