By Mark Cashman 

The Shute Shield is about to enter into “free to air heaven” with the last four rounds of the competition grabbing a Saturday spot on one of the Nine Network channels and then on to three weeks of the finals series.

It all kicks off this weekend with the big battle of the east between Eastern Suburbs and Randwick getting the special treatment.

Then it’s Wildfires v Gordon in Round 16 in Newcastle and will rev up substantially when the free to air cameras head to Rat Park for the beaches derby between Warringah and Manly.

The powers that be are yet to ink in the free to air game for the final round but it’s looming as the match between Hunter and Northern Suburbs at North Sydney Oval.

Now that’s gotta be good for the game – hopefully there will be a few Wallabies, Australia A and Australia Under 20s boys on show!

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Around The Traps was first with the news last month that Leichhardt Oval was looming as the venue for the decider and it seems that the big double header at North Sydney Oval the week before is all systems go.

An announcement is yet to be made but the two preliminary final games will be played back to back at Bear Park – one kicking off around 1.30pm and the other in the normal 3.05pm slot.

North Sydney Oval was right in the picture for the big one for quite some time but the increased hospitality area at “The Eighth Wonder of the World” got Leichhardt the tick of approval.

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It’s almost as if you need to have pulled on a Wallabies jersey to win the match day meat raffle at North Sydney Oval.

Former Wallaby and now Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh scored the tray of succulent treats when he was at Bear Park a couple of weeks back and now another Wallaby has headed home with a mixed grill.

Richard Tombs, now general manager at Hearts In Union, was the big winner last weekend when Norths took on Randwick.

I must say that it was spot the celebrity there with Tim Horan enjoying the hospitality of The Shoreman lounge along with his Stan Sport colleague Andrew ‘Swainey’ Swain.

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While we are talking about some good people at Stan Sport, great interview on Clubland this weekend with Randwick skipper Ben Houston.

Houston played a key role in the critical win over Norths last weekend and he told Swain and Horan about the battle over his recently acquired moustache.

It seems his mother absolutely hates the handle but it all gets a bit murkier with his girlfriend jumping from the thumbs up to the mo side to the logic that Houston’s mum has brought to the table.

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Some big news broken during the week by that king of the Shute Shield scoop Jonathan B. Geddes with Brian ‘Billy’ Melrose revealing that he won’t be coaching at Gordon next year.

Melrose told his players of his decision after their win over Warringah last weekend and it’s yet to be determined where he will land.

One wag on socials even suggested that he was now odds-on to take over from Ben Batger at Eastwood.

His attention to detail and passion for the game has always been on the sleeve and it seems the feelers are out there to see what’s about at the full time professional level.

“I’ve decided my time as a Shute Shield head coach has come to an end and I’ll look to do something else. I didn’t say I’ve retired as a coach,” he told trusted colleague Geddes.

“I’ve had a great period and would like to see if there is an opportunity back in the pro level potentially.”

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I’m a bit old school on this one but the decision of the Shute Shield general managers to delay naming teams until Friday morning is just absolutely crazy.

Around The Traps has been doing this media malarky for a few cycles of the sun (some may say a few too many) and the move is doing the competition in the eye.

I know the GMs will argue that many of the Shute Shield sides don’t get finalised till much later in the week but that’s not the point.

Anyone who knows footy is across that your average coach has settled on starting side in most cases by Sunday afternoon and know which track they are running on for that week.

There’s an opportunity for some media (mostly on socials I admit) on Wednesday and Thursday as the ins and possible outs are debated.

It was bread and butter for the NRL teams for many years and I just feel that we are missing out of getting our great competition even more front and centre.

Okay rant over!

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Now Around The Traps has seen a fair bit of footy in his day but last weekend’s game between West Harbour and Eastwood at Concord Oval was just absolutely top shelf.

The Pirates kicked the winning penalty goal some minutes into extra time after running the ball from within their in-goal area in a game that had just about everything.

Big names, good skills, enormous collisions and tries were there for the somewhat sparse crowd on a wintery afternoon at Concord.

And all done before a collection of the Wests old boys, all on hand for the back to Wests day!

I must say Cameron Treloar is doing a first rate job and the Pirates just seem to get better week after week.

I’d hate to be playing them if your finals spot is on the line in coming weeks.

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The Two Blues have been doing some amazing things on the field in recent weeks as evidenced by their wins over Sydney Uni last weekend and the great effort against Eastwood in Round 12.

But their effort in the game at the birthplace will take some beating.

They scored a try against the Students while three of their players were off the field with yellow cards!