By Mark Cashman

The Shute Shield grand final will be played at Leichhardt Oval once again this year.

North Sydney Oval was right in the picture to stage the big dance but Leichhardt edged ahead because of better corporate facilities and the ease of bumping the television coverage in and outs.

Not that “Bear Park” will be lost the the Shute Shield finals series in 2023 with a double header being planned for the week before the grand final.

I understand that the Hunter Wildfires were keen to stage at least one of their finals matches at Newcastle No.2 Sports Ground but the tyranny of distance and the subsequent cost threw a spanner in the wheels of that idea.

The lower grade and colts finals will be played on the better fields throughout the Sydney basin with Concord Oval being mentioned as one of the sites.

And while we are talking about the Shute Shield finals, Around The Traps is also hearing that those clubs expecting an injection of talent from their Super Rugby talent may well be extremely disappointed.

Fringe Wallabies and a number of Australian Under 20s stars look like being “warehoused” in Europe in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup which naturally will rule them out of finals.

Lots to play out on this one so stay tuned!

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What’s that saying about a doctor “healing thyself” but as far as Sam Ward is concerned it is “physio get that old man’s calf up to speed” so it can handle a Shute Shield game.

Warringah picked ‘Slammin’ Sam’ for this weekend’s game against West Harbour at Rat Park and it’s almost like this one was destined to happen.

Ward has been the Rats’ physio for the past couple of seasons and has struggled not to scratch that bug that gets you when wake up most winter Saturday mornings.

He succumbed in and around the big northern beaches derby last month but “tweaked” the calf (the classic injury of a range of rugby veterans) and fittingly is back for “Lachie Ward Day”.

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The Junior State Championships were held over the King’s Birthday weekend and the results generally are a good indication of the future health of some clubs in the Shute Shield.

The Two Blues won the Under 13 and Under 15 boys as well as the Under 16 girls. Penrith won the Under 12 boys and the Under 18 girls.

Norths won the Under 14 boys while Gordon took out the Under 16 boys with Central Coast winning the Under 14 girls.

Randwick took out the Under 18 boys with a side that featured the sons of Wicks greats Morgan Turinui and Owen Finegan.

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This column has always admired the work of Northern Suburbs backrower Gary Bautz who works off the bench most weeks for the Shoremen and has that lucky knack of getting a critical turnover or three.

Bautz plays his 100th grade game for Norths this weekend and nothing much will change when they take on the Two Blues.

He’ll come on and do something good before leading the victory song in the rooms after the game.

I’ll always remember when he did a job against Warringah one time when Waratahs coach Darren Coleman was steering the ship.

Asked by one of the media for his thoughts about the performance of Bautz, Coleman fired back: “He did some good stuff out there but needs to spend more time in the gym!”

An obvious reference to Bautz’s chiselled frame.

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I’m hearing that the field for the Catchpole Medal is the most open that it has been in years with a whole range of Shute Shield stars getting votes at the halfway point of the competition.

“The most open that I have seen in years,” was how my insider described the count at this point in time.

That means lots of new names in amongst the more established vote getters which means there is lots to play for as we head towards the finals come August.

I wonder if Rugby News’ list of the 50 most influential players in the Shute Shield is a reflection of where the Catchpole votes are heading at the moment.

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While we are talking about the 50 most influential players in the Shute Shield and Zac Barnabas being named top of the pile, debate around the place is vigorous and passionate.

Many of my mates say that Barnabas isn’t big enough to crack it any further up the pathway tree but I’m always keen to point out that that was the conversation when one Michael Hooper emerged.

You can’t argue with Michael Icely (Eastwood) and Jude Gibbs (Northern Suburbs) being No. 2 and No.3 and the quality from that point onwards says that the Shute Shield is in rude health.

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We told you some weeks ago about the meat raffle win over soon to be Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh winning the meat raffle at North Sydney Oval.

Waugh was pretty chuffed at the win and some of my media mates reckon that he should crack out the barbie at RA headquarters on the first Friday he’s in the chair and do a cook up for the media.

Just a (self-centred) thought!

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Many followers of the scribblings that Around The Traps shares with the world would know Rupert Guinness from his days reporting on the great game at the Sydney Morning Herald and before that the Daily Telegraph.

Guinness loved an afternoon at the Shute Shield (and exploits of Wallaby great Simon Poidevin) when he wasn’t reporting on the Waratahs and the Wallabies and being a man from the east loved the Galloping Greens and a sausage sandwich at Coogee.

His longer suit was cycling and he banked an enormous number of Tour de France stints reporting on the ups and downs of one of the world’s great sporting events.

These days he doing ultra, ultra marathon cycling event and at the moment is in the early stages of what is called the Race Across America.

Put simply you hop on the bike in Los Angeles and hop off in Washington DC.

If you wasn’t to track how ‘Rupe’ is travelling track him at the following link: http://trackleaders.com/raam23