BY MARK CASHMAN

We might have a toast to former Test lock Reg Smith at the inaugural Red, Black and Tartan luncheon on Friday at the Crows Nest Hotel.

Wallaby No.537 and former Highlanders coach Norm Tasker have been among the major drivers of the coming together that will see close to 70 former players, coaches and supporters tell some tall tales.

Smith was inducted into the NSW Waratahs Hall of Fame earlier this week along with some of the game’s greats including the likes of Ken Catchpole, Trevor Allan, Rob Heming, Dally Messenger and Johnnie Wallace.

Norths greats John Thornett and Roy Prosser were also inducted into the hall of fame which begins its life with 47 male and 15 female inductees.

And of course a great way to round of the week would be a win for his club Northern Suburbs in the Battle of the North over Gordon at North Sydney Oval on Saturday.

Around The Traps will be a fly on the wall at the luncheon and will report back next week on those tall tales and whether there is any truth in them.

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Around The Traps was wondering out loud earlier this week when the news came through that West Harbour coach Cameron Treloar had accepted a major role with the ACT Brumbies.

How’s a bloke from Sydney’s northern beaches going to cope with the mid-winter cold in the nation’s capital and then I was told that he grew up in chilly Cooma before heading to the big smoke for the start of his rugby journey.

‘Tree’ was named as the General Manager of Rugby at the Brumbies and will do a stellar job there.

He was Shute Shield coach of the year last season in front of a pretty hot field that included Stephen Hoiles (Randwick) and Zak Beer (Northern Suburbs).

He’s done a great job at Concord Oval over the past two years and even though they currently in the lower reaches of the competition table you can see the work that he is putting into there group.

They haven’t had much luck in a number of games but whoever takes over will be starting with a pretty good base.

The job in Canberra starts in coming weeks but he will continue to steer the Shute Shield side for the rest of the season and perform a handover with the new coach.

“We cannot thank Cam enough for his leadership over the past two years,” the club said in a statement.

“Whilst we are very sorry to see him go, we wish Cam and his family all the very best with this exciting opportunity.”

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I brought the topic up on ShuteCast earlier this week – what’s happening with our goal kickers in the Shute Shield at the moment.

It came to mind watching the Eastwood v Sydney Uni match last weekend on Stan Sport and being horrified seeing Tane Edmed miss a couple of real sitters.

To be quite honest I could have toe poked a couple of them between the posts and it became even more grating watching the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals where their off tee kickers are absolutely metronomic.

It was the same at Woollahra Oval where Jack Bowen missed a couple of real gimmes in Easts win over the Manly Marlins.

A few guys do have this skill down pat like Reece Seuseu at the Two Blues and James Faiva at West Harbour but they are the exception to the rule.

It’s important to keep the scoreboard ticking over and I just feel this is one of the things that we can easily improve with some good coaching and effort.

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Coby Miln, Teddy Wilson, Jack Bowen and the Seuseu brothers got the majority of the love when Rugby News asked some of the Shute Shield’s movers and shakers about who was the most influential in the competition.

Miln (Warringah) along with Easts duo Bowen and Wilson got the most mentions while the Seuseu brothers from the Two Blues weren’t far behind.

The Rats have now gone seven rounds without a loss – there was the draw with Norths – and Miln is the one who has been getting his side at the right end of the field.

Miln seems quite robust and if he stays on the field heading into the finals Warringah will go deep.

Over at Coogee Oval your can see the influence that Kurtley Beale has on this Randwick group.

When he came on last weekend against Southern Districts you could see the tempo of the match ramp up.

If he’s about you could see him helping the Wicks to go back to back!

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Around The Traps might head to Rat Park next Thursday and Knox College on Friday and play a bit of “spot the NRL scout”.

The occasion is the NSW Schools trials and it will be a major coming together of footy talent, so let’s hope that the right people from our game are there and getting on the front foot.

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As you would expect Central Coast, Illawarra and Hunter have dominated selections in the NSW Country Cockatoos squad that will head towards involvement in the Australian Rugby Shield.

The Coasties got eight, Illawarra four and Hunter 10 in what looks to be a pretty handy squad.

Some familiar Shute Shield names in the squad including Alex Gibbon the former Queensland Reds winger and George Miller, the younger brother of Waratahs and Brumbies and Norths opensider Will.

Gibbon works in real estate on the Far North Coast while Miller helps out on the family dairy farm near Berry on the NSW south coast.

I must say that Far North Coast has the best club names – Wollongbar-Alstonville Pioneers and the Mullumbimby Moonshiners.

I wouldn’t advise driving home from the Moonshiners after match function!

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The Shute Shield has always been a resilient beast and so media speculation that everyone is deserting the ship for greener fields has me scratching my head.

The competition has been one of the major suppliers of talent to the professional leagues since before the turn of the century and I reckon things will stay the same.

The average age of Shute Shielder is now somewhere in the early to mid 20s in contrast to past days when it was late 20s to early 30s.

The MLR in the United States is snaffling up a lot more talent than we have been used to in recent times but in my mind the quality of the footy played continues to impress.

As they say Next Man Up!