Essendon recruit Dylan Shiel has picked up a side job while playing for the Bombers this season, working with a wealthy, Essendon-associated powerbroker.
Mark Casey, who has a long and successful career in property, has employed Shiel in a part-time role at his company Casey Capital, in order to begin preparing for career prospects post-football.
“Dylan is an intelligent person and is keen to create a future outside of football,” Casey told the Herald Sun.
“He has aspirations to be a property developer, so we are delighted to have him as part of the Casey Capital team.
“Dylan will be working with me closely on two new large-scale residential projects, one west of Melbourne and the other a new $2 billion town on the Byron Bay coast.”
The 26-year-old will earn up to $20,000 a year, in an arrangement which was ticked off by the AFL.
As part of AFL protocol, all financial arrangements with club supporters and other third-party involvements must be unrelated to player contracts or a players’ decision to move clubs.
Casey confirmed he had no discussions with Shiel prior to him joining the club.
Casey is a former Essendonians coterie club president and has had previous dealings with several notable Essendon figures.
He was a key figure in the Armstrong Creek property deal, which saw Mark 'Bomber' Thompson and Adrian Dodoro both pocket roughly $7 million from a 2005 investment, after initially paying sums of $394,000 each.
It poses as an enticing prospect for Shiel post-footy, if deals like that are anything to go by.
“Our company has a diverse range of projects from new towns, childcare, townhouses and retirement villages, and Dylan will be part of the team that will deliver these projects,” Casey said.
Along with Thompson and the Essendon list manager, Casey has been an influential adviser for other Bomber players of yesteryear, such as Andrew Welsh.
Welsh has had an enormously successful impact in the property scene since retiring in 2011.
Managing director of his company, Welsh Group, the 36-year-old ranks as the 23rd wealthiest Australian under 40, with an estimated net worth of $121 million. The former Bomber and his company are currently developing new outer west suburb Thornhill Park, which is their largest development project.
Shiel will be hoping to carry on his promising start for the red and black when the Bombers take on Collingwood in Thursday's blockbuster ANZAC Day clash.
