By MARK CASHMAN

We're not far from the start of the 2021 Shute Shield season 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:

It’s always good to get a line in the sand early in the season and that just what new Gordon coach Brian Melrose will get on Saturday when the Highlanders take on the Brisbane Easts in the Australian Club Championship game this weekend.

It’s the winner of the Shute Shield v the winner of the Hospital Challenge Cup for Australian club rugby’s bragging rights.

But the teams that ran out for the grand finals in both Sydney and Brisbane don’t look too much like the combinations that the Highlanders and the Tigers will field on Saturday.