BY MARK CASHMAN

I know this is hard to get your head around but the colour of your jersey could be the difference between a “belter” of a season and a “close but no cigar” sort of affair.

Around The Traps thought that we would ask Gainline Analytics boss Ben Darwin, the former Wallabies and Norths prop, about the influence that wearing celebratory kit had on results.

The thought bubble came to mind with Norths wearing a special Legends Day red jersey for their game against Gordon on Saturday at North Sydney Oval.

Norths good, great and not so great come together on this day each year when the Highlanders are in town to talk about past heroics and the sheer joy of the local derby.

But they would be set back on to their heels a bit with the “intel” that Darwin revealed.

Darwin’s numbers revealed that when teams changed the colour of their jerseys they dropped off in points scored by around 40 percent.

The numbers tell a story and tells a story that Gordon wore a special pink jersey for their Ladies Day round at Chatswood Oval last weekend.

Southern Districts also had a change of strip last weekend when they took on Warringah in their Back to Port Hacking day.

Uni beat the Highlanders 43-31 while the Rats had a belting 47-17 victory at Forshaw Rugby Park.

But the biggest jersey upset may well have been back in Gordon’s premiership year of 2020.

They wore a white jersey with a maroonish V that saluted the formation of the club via the Roseville Juniors.

That didn’t end well at Chatswood Oval with Norths inflicting the Highlanders only loss of that season, 24-13 with Max Burey and Hugh Sinclair playing key roles.

This is not an indication of the future but it’s a compelling conversation starter at the Union Hotel on Saturday.

That’s where the Legends will gather for some pre-game jollies before being taken on a tour of the club’s new office and meeting space at North Sydney Oval.

They will then watch the game play out and then chat about Mark Twain’s famous quote “lies, damned lies and statistics” after taking in a victory song.

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Good to see the official Shute Shield social stream jumping on our “run home” rundown last weekend.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the top six won’t be decided until Round 18 has been completed on August 15.

The higher placed teams run head long into each other while a team like Norths have what many say is an easier run.

But as we know that is far from the case – for many teams concentrating on the process will be far more important than the end result.

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Our man embedded at Rat Park Jonathan B. Geddes reports for his Rats Tales publication that there was an unusual choice when the guest panel at Warringah’s annual luncheon were asked about their all-time favourite Rats player.

The great Cam Treloar’s choice was Lolo Holani.

Holani was a prop and did some work as a security guard to get by.

He worked on Friday nights at the Surf Rock in Collaroy, then would play fourth grade on Saturday, sit on the bench for third grade and hang around if needed for seconds and firsts.

Then off he would go for his Saturday night shift at the Mona Vale Hotel.

“Rats Tales reckons Lolo’s amazing dedication should be recognised with a statue at Rat Park,” our correspondent wrote.

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Some of my mates say that if you remember a lot of the things that happened in the 1970s you weren’t living out the whole experience.

So it was great to see the great man Bob Wilson’s column piece about the Drinking Team of the 1970s on my socials earlier this week.

Bob picked the team for his Wilso’s Whispers column and he tells me every time it gets a run the hits are “pretty damn solid”.

If you were in and around the Shute Shield in those times the names would be familiar, even scary.

Time has calmed many of them down a bit and even the author of the column piece is a lot more moderate in his habits these days.

Disturbingly there are a lot of Norths men there headed by the now departed Norm ‘Nobby’ Osborne and Dick Ireland.

Have a look.

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Lot of debate out there about the tenure of Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt in club land.

You know the sort of stuff – not enough wins so let’s move him on which as we all know can be an expensive and traumatic experience for all.

The former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen was pretty close to the heart of the matter here in Australia when he spoke on the Rugby Unity podcast earlier this week.

“I agree wins and losses are what you get judged on but I think you’ve got to look at the bigger picture,” Hansen opined.

“The bigger picture though is that the development pathway of Australian rugby has been broken.

“I don’t think that Super Rugby has been at all kind to Australia. I think they have had too many teams and not enough competition at that top level

“So have they got the model right? Are they better off to play a national competition or do they go back and just pick three teams?

“But for a long time they have too many players having the opportunity to be called a professional player without having earned the right to be one.

“And that reflects on your game at the highest level, because under pressure you’ve got to be able to survive and compete. That’s what happens to Australia at times.

“There’s no doubt the talent is there. Is the depth there? Probably not as much as you would like.

“So Joe has taken the attitude that he will build that depth and it just takes time – you can’t just snap your fingers and fix a problem that has been years in the making overnight.”

Wise words in this column’s humble opinion.

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It is sure to be a rollicking afternoon at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron when the Highlanders mark the 50-year anniversary of their stellar 1976 Shute Shield season.

The date is Friday, September 11 and arrangements are already well advanced.

Gordon won the Shute Shield and the Colin Caird Shield that year with the first grade side only dropping one game – v Eastwood at Chatswood Oval a few weeks before the semi-finals – on their way to the premiership.

Both teams played a ground breaking style of rugby that centred on a good scrum and when the space was there getting the ball there.