By Mark Cashman; Image – Stewart Hazell

I must say that I was mightily impressed with the way that ‘Bubba’ Coleman and his Hunter Wildfires went about their work last weekend against Northern Suburbs.

They were relentless for every one of the 80 minutes and probably should have won by a bit more in front of an ecstatic crowd at Newcastle No.2 Sports Ground.

There was quite a healthy crowd there for the big match and they were delightfully vocal every time that the home side rolled another one in.

Around The Traps is not sure if the ground bookings have been done but what a great way to spread the love about the game than to stage the premiership decider, or at least a semi final, in Newcastle if they qualify.

Yes I know premierships aren’t won in May but at the very least the Wildfires look as though they will host one of the early finals qualifying games.

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We said farewell to the Sydney Morning Herald’s chief rugby writer Georgina Robinson earlier this week and wish her well as she embarks into the “world of consulting”.

‘Geerob’ was the first female chief rugby writer at the SMH and had a great feel for the game and a nose for a good story.

She was only an occasional visitor to the Shute Shield world but knew just about all that was going on.

Many will remember her early days in the big job at the SMH when David Campese suggested in a tweet that a woman was not the right person to report on the Wallabies.

A few dark days followed for ‘Geerob’ but she came out the other side and heads off into the sunset respected by many in the game.

She may even write the occasional profile for CashCow Media Solutions’ publications when time allows in the consulting world.

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Had a lengthy conversation with a legal operative in Perth about the massive 96-game suspension that was handed out to a premier grade player in the local competition.

A Perth Bayswater player was wiped out for pretty close to five years after shoulder charging a referee in a recent game.

That’s pretty close to five years out for an act of absolute stupidity.

So the lesson is simple – don’t touch the officials!

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Great to see Yool Yool absolutely braining them in the Battle of the Beaches derby at Manly Oval last weekend.

It’s been a tick over 18 month since he badly broke his leg training with the national sevens squad and there would have been times when he thought that his greatest asset – speed – had deserted him.

Yool struggled to get selected in the Manly Marlins Shute Shield last year but he’s got his chance this year under Chris Delooze and it’s been Wow, just wow!

He scored two tries against Warringah that absolutely blew the derby rivals away early.

At times it looked like he was just toying with the defence and my sources say that he will get better when the confided ce in his b body is back to where it was.

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The night before the big northern beaches derby between Manly and Warringah has certain rhythm about it but this was all chucked out the window last Friday night.

Manly Marlins royalty were all having a derby eve settler at the Steyne Hotel when in rocked Daz Hawthorne, the big dirty Rat and figurehead of Warringah’s Hillbillies.

Some thought it was a deliberately provocative move but all big Daz was after was a quick beer before watching the colts.

The Marlins are getting great numbers to their colts fixtures on Friday night which is great but there was no luck there with Warringah having a sweep for the George Smith Cup.

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Anyone holidaying in Fiji in coming months may well think that the Gordon Highlanders had staged something of a coup.

Former Gordon general manager Grant Pisani has been working on a project to help out a tiny village on the Yasawa Islands of Fiji.

Pisani sourced a sponsor (Encore) to help with the costs involved in providing the Somosomo village team with 30 jerseys, socks and shorts.

They were handed over in a special ceremony a fortnight ago that involved lots of kava, feasting and of course some of that spine tingling singing.

They trained and played in their new kit in a sevens tournament and from all reports did very well before being well beaten by one of the main island teams.

It’s a great way to reach out to our friends in the islands and may well unearth some talent for the Highalnders.

Well done to all involved!