Shaw's greatest rugby success was achieved at flanker, he was a hard driving forward who lead from the front and was an outstanding rucker and mauler.

Howell asserts that although the standard of Australian representative sides during the early 1970s was less than consistently world-class, Shaw would have been competitive in the best All Black packs of that and any other era.

That year, aged 20 he was picked for the 1973 Australia rugby union tour of Europe and he played in the second-row in five games including his debut Test appearances against Wales and England.

[1] Early in his career Shaw played at number-eight and although he was picked in the Queensland team of 1974 against the visiting All Blacks, Mark Loane was preferred by the selectors at number 8 for the three Test matches against those visitors.

Wearing a Queensland jumper he also met Fiji and in that year's interstate series the Reds dominated New South Wales with a 42–4 victory.

Coach Bob Templeton's tenure and the reputation of a number of senior players suffered as a result of the poor tour record but Shaw held his own and returned well regarded.

[1] The new national coach Daryl Haberecht, in 1978 built his side around the leadership strength of Shaw and his Queensland back star Paul McLean.

In 1979 under new coach Dave Brockhoff, Loane led the Wallabies in a Test match in Sydney where they won the Bledisloe Cup for the first time in 45 years; Shaw played in that game.

Disaster struck for Shaw in the Test against Scotland when he retaliated recklessly to niggling from Scots player Bill Cuthbertson with a king-hit right in front of the referee and the TV cameras.