By MARK CASHMAN

The Ken Catchpole Medal will awarded next Wednesday night at a special function in the city and Around The Traps is hearing that it is the closest contest in many a long year.

So close in fact that games this weekend will decide which name is sent to the engravers on Monday to honour the best player in the Shute Shield for 2022.

I’m hearing that there are two players very much in the mix and that has whittled down from four when were still inn the race leading into Round 16.

Don’t know who they are but it certainly adds a bit of spice to the final round before we head in the playoff.

One nugget of information that I was able to squeeze out of my sources was that if Warringah’s Ben Woollett was still playing at the Rats then he may have been doing a lap of honour on Wednesday night.

The medal is voted on by all the Shute Shield coaches who pass judgement on the team that they played that day.

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All we know about finals venues at this stage is that North Sydney Oval and Sydney Uni Sports Ground will be hosting games on the first weekend of the playoffs.

After that it appears that Coogee Oval and Pittwater Rugby Park will play a key role in hosting games that will decide this year’s premiers.

Rugby grounds are as rare as hens’ teeth at this time of the year with cricket starting to soak up the usage and Sydney’s big wet meaning that some other grounds aren’t in the sort of shape that is needed to host these important games.

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It was great to see former top flight referee Stu Dickinson giving back to the whistleblowing ranks and jumping head first into some mentoring.

Around The Traps had a chat with ‘Dicko’ last weekend at the Northern Suburbs v Two Blues game at North Sydney Oval in between his official duties.

Dickinson has been helping a number of the Shute Shield up and coming refs and says there is some real officiating talent out there.

He helped Tom Nicholl with some feedback about his running lines and on field communication but stressed to this correspondent about the importance about getting down to training and being a vital part of the match day and the after match function.

Just like to old days when Flip van der Westhuizen was often funnier than many of the club captains who spoke after games.

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Oodles of great things about the lunch and launch of the 100 years of Rugby News coffee table book last week but one of the better ones was the humour of the MC for the afternoon Josh Gerrard.

Gerrard, who was Warringah club captain in their premiership year and still has the boots in the back of the car if needed, was on fire and genuinely funny right through the lunch and I for one believe there is a bit of a future in the hosting trade for the big unit.

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While on the lunch it was great to see a whole range of Rugby decision makers attending with representative from Rugby Australia, NSW Rugby and of course the Sydney Rugby Union there.

Around The Traps bumped into SANZAAR boss Brendan Morris, who is off to Argentina for the second round the The Rugby Championship next week, and we asked him about how he went as one of the keynote speakers at a recent Manly Marlins lunch.

Morris said he was not sure if they would have him back because the boys from the Village Green haven’t won a Shute Shield encounter since he spoke ate their function.

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Warringah have led the way with their concussion protocols for a number of seasons and they are leading the way again with the use of a ground breaking technology.

Rats players now have access to the portable EyeGuide rapid response sideline testing device following a sponsorship arrangement with Arcare Aged Care.

EyeGuide’s technology is a 10-second, non-intrusive eye test which analyses the brain health of individuals and forms part of the overall assessment process when a head knock occurs on the sporting field.

Thanks to Arcare, EyeGuide units are being rolled out to sporting clubs and schools in Victoria, NSW, and Queensland and the Rats are the first of the Shute Shield clubs to use it.

The technology is used to baseline the brain health of all players and if a player receives a head knock, follow up tests will be done in addition to the traditional concussion protocols.

When using EyeGuide’s system, a player follows a white dot across an iPad screen while a camera captures 1200 images of the player’s eye movement. 

This assessment of their eye movement is used as an indicator of their brain function.

An algorithm generates an objective score in real-time to gauge a players’ brain activity which is then compared to their baseline scan.

Follow-up testing is conducted throughout the recovery process in the days and weeks after the sideline assessment to gather objective data during the recovery process.

Ongoing data can measure a player’s brain health over the course of their career and flag early warnings for further specialist assessment. It is hoped this will promote player wellbeing and prolong careers. 

Rats GM Greg Marr said concussion management was an important player safety issue and the club was now better equipped to manage and safeguard players after a head knock.

“We want to provide all players with a high level of care and the EyeGuide technology is a simple, easy to use device which delivers clear data and provides players, coaches and family members peace of mind,” said Marr.

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Rugby News colleague Jon Geddes tells me that Warringah coaching duo Mike Ruthven and Geoff Toovey expanded their CVs at the weekend by heading up to Chatswood Oval to chart the fortunes of the Ratettes.

The Ratettes didn’t have a mentor for the day so Ruthven and Toovey went to Chatswood for their 9am game and then headed back to Rat Park for their side’s game against Southern Districts.

IMAGE: KAREN WATSON PHOTOGRAPHY