By MARK CASHMAN

We’re into the ninth round of the Shute Shield competition and the phone has been ringing hot with all the news and views from the greatest club competition in Australia. Here’s what we are hearing:

The great GORDON BRAY loosened up the vocal chords when he worked with TONY LEWIS on the stream of the Eastern Suburbs v Sydney Uni on Saturday provided by Bar TV.

‘Gordy’ is set to call the Wallabies games this year for Channel 10 on free-to-air (whenever and wherever they may be) and says he’s looking forward to a bit of a stroll down memory lane at Woollahra Oval.

He had a couple of seasons at the Beasts in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a lower grade scrum half before the ABC said that his career with them took priority over the footy.

The career thing seemed to have worked out pretty well and he has been a witness to some of the great moments of Australian Rugby that included two Rugby World Cup victories and of course the 1984 Grand Slam.

Bray is also mentoring a couple of aspiring female sports commentators in his down time and he says he has been super impressed with the way that ALICIA LUCAS (nee QUIRK) and EMILY CHANCELLOR have taken to the art.

Quirk is married to Matt Lucas and part of the national sevens squad on hold at the moment while Chancellor is a current Wallaroo and part of the Sydney Uni Jack Scott Cup squad.

He said both were exceptional talents who have picked up the knack of providing great insight very quickly.

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Their first grade side is sitting on top of the Shute Shield competition ladder and playing some pretty good footy but dig a bit deeper and you will see that a lot is happening at Gordon.

Rugby News reported last year about their Indigenous program and by the sound of things it is starting to bear some fruit.

First grade coach DARREN COLEMAN has been very hands on with the entire project and there are now seven indigenous boys in the grade section of the Highlanders club.

Anyone who saw some of the tries that DENZEL BURNS in reserve grade last weekend against Randwick at Coogee Oval would testify to the quality of the player coming through.

Burns has the sort of speed that you just cannot coach and there is a bit of attitude thrown in there that will see his talents recognised further up the rugby pathway if he stays the course.

He was the captain of the Dream Time team run by Rugby Australia and has been working as an apprentice electrician (organised by Gordon) since coming to Sydney from Toowoomba.

First grade skipper JORDY GODDARD has Indigenous heritage and helps Coleman with a lot of the mentoring that is done with the group. “It’s something that I am keen to develop,” Coleman said.

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Lots of storylines out of the big northern beaches derby but this one is right up there and straight from the MARLIN FILLETS newsletter boss ADAM LUCIUS.

A little over 22 years again WARRINGAH hard man JOHN HEARN headed south along Pittwater and linked up with the Marlins.

He’s still very much a Rats man but he didn’t mind seeing Manly’s HARLEY ATTWATER play a leading hand in the 39-19 win at Manly Oval last Saturday.

You see Hearny is Attwater’s godfather – a good man to have on your side!

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The TWO BLUES have had lots of media this week with their pre-game hymn going viral and even finding itself on the BBC Sport social media loops.

We wanted to scratch the surface and find out a little bit more about the song and who was doing the singing.

It seems that it’s the Two Blues Colts that have made a habit of singing the Fijian hymn Noqu Masu before games and sometimes even at training.

If you have heard it before it’s because it is the same hymn that is sung by the Fijian national side and their sevens teams before games.

Colts coach KRUGER ROACHE told Rugby News that the intention of the hymn was to bring his team together before they head out on to the field for battle.

There are only three boys with Fijian heritage in Roache’s side but a mix of other Pacific Island nationalities and a few Aussies thrown in there as well.

Many of the guys that play Colts at the Two Blues and the other western Sydney clubs are fresh to the game but none the less extremely talented.

Either way they can sing and their rugby is coming along nicely too. And did it work on the weekend? Well yes they had their first win of the year at Lidcombe Oval last Saturday getting home against Penrith 100-17.

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The boys at RANDWICK are taking their rivalry with EASTERN SUBURBS in a different direction and to throw a line out there, there is blood involved, hopefully lots of it.

The Wicks have challenged the Beasties to donate blood in the lead up to their big derby game at Woollahra Oval on October 10, the final round of the home and away season.

The Randwick boys, and girls, have been clocking up the litres and reckon they have got it covered.

Even the first grade boys have been doing their bit and starting hooker DAVID VEA showing.

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It’s good to see that Granville Park is looking very much like a building site, which at this stage it should. That means that it’s all systems go for Shute Shield rugby to return their at the start of the 2021 season.

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The forced retirement of Southern Districts emerging backrower HARRY MCLENNAN has hit the club like a tonne of bricks but it’s good to see them not sitting on their hands.

The Rebels passed a bucket around at last weekend’s game against Eastern Suburbs and also started up a Go Fund Me page to help McLennan with the cash flow that he will need as he recovers.

On Tuesday of last week he was at training and expecting to be back in a short while after a quick operation to fix a few things in his neck.

Lucky that he did have that operation because the surgeons found that he could have been severely debilitated if he copped a knock in the wrong area.

Donations to the Go Fund Me page have been flying in and it now sits on a tick over $28,000 and growing.

The respect he garnered in his short Shute Shield career shown by the fact that the likes of Rob Horne (retired Wallaby), Lachie Swinton (Sydney Uni and Tahs), Henry Clunies-Ross (Sydney Uni) and Henry Paterson (Easts) have all kicked the tin.

IMAGE: SUPPLIED