Young midfield superstar Dylan Shiel has been awarded Macquarie University’s Male Athlete Of The Year for 2014. 

Shiel, who is doing a Bachelor of Commerce degree, accepted his award at the Macquarie University Blues Awards.

The Athlete Of The Year is awarded to a male elite student athlete for an outstanding performance whilst attending Macquarie University.

Shiel, who is majoring in Marketing, said he was proud to receive the award. “I was very privileged to get the award and wasn’t expecting it but it’s just something nice to have at the end of the year after completing a few subjects,” he said.

“It’s a nice broad degree to do. I’m not quite sure what I want to do after football but hopefully that can open the field up after my footy career and go from there.

“I’ve got to really utilise the day off we have during the week, especially in-season. Like most of the boys at the club, the day off is usually time to study or go into uni for a few hours to chip away at our degree.”

Along with the rest of the first to fourth year players, Shiel returned to the club on Wednesday to begin preparations for the 2015 season.

Post-season shoulder surgery will keep him out of full training until mid-December but Shiel said there was a great buzz around the club and he can't wait for new recruits Ryan Griffen and Joel Patfull to arrive.

“It’s the first time we’ve come back to our facility from day one. We’ve been going from a few venues each pre-season so it’s really nice to come back to sort of a second home in Sydney,” Shiel said.

“On (Ryan) Griffen and Joel Patfull, it’s really exciting to have them on board and I can’t wait to see how they go about their football.”