By MARK CASHMAN

After the pure theatre of the northern beaches derby between Manly and Warringah on ANZAC day it just keeps on coming with the Battle of the East at Coogee Oval scheduled for Saturday.

Randwick hit the nail on the head when they said in their newsletter this week that the footy was not the star event.

“In all honesty, playing footy is not the star event on the ANZAC weekend - commemorating our servicemen and women, past and present is, and it is both an honour and privilege for our club to host a game of this magnitude on such a special national occasion.”

That said there is a cabinet full of silverware at stake with the Greg Smith trophy and the Sir Rosen Cutler Shield both top four grabs.

The Galloping Greens won both game last year but with the way that the Beasties have started 2024 that is not a sure thing.

Grade will be played at Coogee while all the colts fixtures will be at Woollahra.

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What’s that saying, apples don’t fall too far from the tree but in the case of Neori Nadruku it seems that that tree was pretty close to McDonald’s.

Near is the son of legendary Canberra Raiders winger Noa Nadruku, who lit up the NRL competition in the mid-1990s after arriving from Fiji.

He scored 72 tries in only 92 appearances, played lots of finals footy and is a member of Canberra's hall of fame.

"I was born the year they won the comp in 1994 so never got to see him play," Nadruku jnr told Marlins Fillets this week.

"I played a bit of both (league and union) when I was younger but then went to St Edmunds in Canberra and it was rugby from there.

"He (Dad) was a winger and I turned out a prop, so figure that out. Maybe too much McDonald's at my end!"

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While we’re talking about sons of famous fathers, this column loves looking at the Shute Shield team sheets when they come out each week.

This season they come out too late in the week for Around The Traps liking but that is another rant that I might have at another time.

So it was interesting to see Ben Kafer getting some time off the bench for Gordon in their 29-9 win over the Hunter Wildfires at Chatswood Oval last weekend.

Young Kafer is the son of former Wallaby Rod and my sources tell me he has some real attitude with his defence.

Elsewhere Ollie Cummins, the son of Damien, has been used off the bench in the Manly Marlins last couple of games including the good win over West Harbour.

Ollie’s been in the wider Western Force squad but is off to play in France in the very near future.

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Ask ‘Turtle’ Cummins a question and you will get an answer if you like it or not.

The Marlins very informative newsletter this week asked him about where the the big northern beaches derby was at.

“It’s lost a bit of momentum the last few years. There's been too much love between the clubs," he opined.

"The Tik Tok generation is – what are the words they use? – all positive vibes and feels and don’t fully get the emotion of the derby.

"We used to fight the Rats on the field and keep fighting them off the field – now they kiss and hug each other."

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Nice little drop in Around The Traps’s letterbox earlier this week when Gordon Bray’s little tome arrived.

Bray has named his top 15 Wallabies over the years in a classy publication entitled ‘The Immortal of Australian Rugby Union’ which will be released in coming months.

I’m sworn to secrecy about his pecking order but after a quick flick through I can say a lot of his selections make a lot of sense.

The Immortals concept was pioneered by Rugby League Week 20 plus years ago and I pushed for it to be launched when I edited Inside Rugby a decade ago.

My bosses though didn’t want the Immortals tag to be used in the 15-man and settled on the Invincibles tag.

Nevertheless we pulled together a judging panel that included Bob Dwyer, Rod Macqueen, Alan Jones, Andrew Slack, Sir Nick Shehadie, the late Max Howell, Peter FitzSimons, Norman Tasker, Greg Clark, Iain Payten, Jim Webster, myself and the late Greg Growden.

The idea was that we would name an initial group and then revisit it every year or so.

The four that that knowledgable group came up with in the end were Col Windon, Ken Catchpole, Mark Ella and David Campese.

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My Shute Cast podcast teammate Andrew Swain celebrated his 40th birthday last weekend and he got a wonderful surprise when he turned up for work on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.

‘Swainey’ thought he would be doing the hard yards in the Stan Sport production truck for the Queensland Reds v Highlander Super Rugby Pacific game.

But that wasn’t the way that it panned out - when he arrived for duty he was told that he wouldn’t be required (but not in a don’t come Monday sort of way).

His wife Sophie then took him to watch the game as a punter (which if you work in the rugby industry that is heaven on a stick) but sitting in one corner were 50 plus family and friends, all thirsty and ready to belt out Happy Birthday!

That was topped off by a cameo on the coverage that involved the big Brothers lock forward sculling a “black rat”.

And for those of you who aren’t north of the Tweed that is a double Bundaberg rum and coke with a couple of ice cubes thrown in for good measure.

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Around The Traps has family links to Cowra and I’m told that annual fixture between Eastwood and Northern Suburbs went off like a frog in a sock!

Norths won the Shute Shield encounter well but their first grade side was blown away by the appearance of one of their old boys in the dressing sheds after the game with a piano under his arm.

Arnie Berkeley, a handy No.8 in his day, then tickled the ivories and got the entire shed singing along to his unique version of John Denver’s 1970s classic Take Me Home, Country Roads.

A large squad of Norths alumni travelled to Cowra for the luncheon the day before and it must be said they stimulated the local economy significantly.

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Heamani Lavaka, who passed away earlier this week after a short illness aged only 52 years, was one of those guys you thought was indestructable.

Lavaka played as a tough as teak prop at the Beasties though the early to mid 2000s before moving to Forbes in the central west of NSW and naturally enough linking with the local club, the Platypi.

He had a decorated career in New Zealand before coming to Australia, playing 15 Tests for Tonga an appearing in three Rugby World Cups.

At Woollahra he played in 105 Shute Shield games and was highly respected for his hard edge on the field and his sense of fun and love of music off the field.

His daughter Emeline spoke on social media about her father’s “large and wonderful life”.

“He fought right until the very end and was surrounded by so much family, music and love when he took his final breaths,” Emeline said.

His Platypi family in Forbes also paid tribute to a man who was very much part of their community.

“Hea's love for the game was infectious and we are so grateful to have been influenced and guided by such a legend,” a club spokesman said.

“Hea’s life was filled with laughter, love, mate-ship and plenty of big hits.”

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Well I couldn’t think of a better venue for a fond farewell to our mate Norm ‘Nobby’ Osborne who passed away after a short battle with pancreatic cancer a couple of weeks back.

In his 50 years plus service to the Northern Suburbs club ‘Nobby’ built his day around Percy’s opposite North Sydney Oval so it’s fitting that his many family and friends will reminisce about his life.

Whether he was a player, coach or team manager through his time at the Shoremen you always knew that if you dropped in to Percy’s he’d be there holding court at some stage during a Saturday afternoon.

If you were a first grader or a fourth grader he’d know how’d you’d gone that day and how you could do better.

The celebration of his life will kick off at 2pm on Friday May 3 and I’m wiping the diary for the rest of the day to honour a great, great man!