By Mark Cashman

The one thing you cannot coach at any level is speed, gas, jet shoes . . . whatever you want to call it.

Around The Traps mentioned in the game wrap ups earlier this week that the try scored by Eastwood winger Dylan Nelson was an early contender for Shute Shield try of the year.

I’d be surprised if Nelson, who hails from Portadown College in Northern Ireland and was in the Woods Colin Caird Shield winning side in 2025, knew exactly what he was doing but he turned the Two Blues’ defence inside out and after that outside in before touching down.

Nelson’s change of direction would certainly break an ankle or two.

The basis to it all was the pure speed that he brought to the table and it opened up a discussion about the lethal back three throughout the Shute Shield.

In this column’s book the Woodies must be hard to beat with the pure speed of Nelson combining with his other winger Lachlan Shelley and fullback Isaac Crowe.

Whatever you do don’t show them the sideline or they will be away and you’ll be grasping at thin air.

Easts with Cooper Whiteside, Henry Palmer and Ollie Dawkins are another combo to be feared while Norths combo of Shane Wilcox, Callum Sirker and Marcus Arrindell have plenty of up side.

The Rats are pretty handy as well with Ben Marr working well with Charlie Tupu and Luke Tucker have some strike power.

But if we put them in a relay my money would be on the Woodies boys.

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Concussion isn’t something that you muck about with and it takes some intestinal fortitude to make the correct decisions when the side effects can be so devastating.

So its good to see that young Warringah lock Ned Slack-Smith has decided to make the brave decision to finish up at the tender age of 23 years.

Slack-Smith was destined for a career that would have involved Super Rugby but copped a knock that saw him sit out last season.

He was on his way back in 2026 but copped another knock playing third grade against Sydney Uni and that triggered the sensible decision to call it quits.

“It was obviously not ideal, everyone has to retire, but you don’t want to do it when you are 23,” he told Rugby News colleague Jon Geddes for Rats Tales. 

“It was a tough one, but I know it was the smart one. I probably had my week to moan, but you are not going to get anywhere doing that,” he added. 

“Not everything goes the way you want, that’s life sometimes, you can’t kick rocks.

“I’m just trying to be positive about it and throw myself into other things.”

Rugby’s loss will be landscaping’s gain and he now runs his own company – The Landscape Project – which he started when he had to stand down. 

Rats coach Josh Holmes thought that he was headed in an upward trajectory.     

“I think he is just a tremendous young man and such a talent – not just on the field but off it,” he said. “As a person, what he brings to the club is amazing.

“It is really sad, I think he deserved to go on and play Super Rugby because that is the way he was heading.”

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This is a story that will stir up memories of various emotions to a legion of front rowers the world over.

The Associates club in Perth’s first grade competition was forced to forfeit all their senior men’s grades a fortnight back to Cottesloe after what was officially described as a “staph infection” had made its way through the club.

That’s code for scrum pox or impetigo and after copping a fairly heavy dose back in the day at Norths it’s not a pleasant thing to cope with.

There’s not you can do to curtail, it’s just a matter of treating the symptoms and the inflammation and waiting for it all to cycle its way through.

Soaks’ decision wasn’t taken lightly and was made in conjunction with Rugby WA.

It’s touched the good, the not so good and the great with a heavy dose affecting the final days of Wallabies great John Thornett’s career.

Thornett ruled himself out of contention for the four Tests against the Homer Nations on the Wallabies 1966-67 tour but played in the final Test against France at Stade Colombes before a farewell against the Barbarians

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Around The Traps had a lovely couple of days in the Southern Highlands last weekend eating some excellent food and giving some good red wine a bit of a nudge.

So what else do you do on a chilly Saturday afternoon in that part of the world than settle in at Eridge Park and watch the Bowral Blacks take on the Campbelltown Harlequins in the Illawarra competition.

There were a few familiar faces there with former Eastwood and Norths coach Andrew Cox helping guide the Blacks while on the sideline John Mumm, the father of Greg and Wallaby and Waratah Dean, was taking it all in.

Mumm introduced Around The Traps to a couple of current Bowral board members who told this column about the great work being done in the area on junior development.

They start them young down there with Try Rugby style sessions being done for numerous ages including ones for young ones in the two to four years age groups.

The hard bit they said now was trying to find games for them to play once they get to the more organised ages.

Well done to all down there!

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I know you are hanging out for it so Around The Traps contacted Harry Burey to find out what his Stat of the Week was on the Shute Cast podcast.

Well it centred around the Warringah v Southern Districts at Rat Park and the fact that the home side had 67% of the possession and only had to do 67 tackles throughout the afternoon.

The average throughout the Shute Shield this year is usually between 120 and 130 and it was obviously one of the reasons why the scoreline blew out late.

Still no takers for a sponsorship deal for the Stat of the Week but the season is still young.

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We told you last week about the Norths Sirens having their first game of XVs against Randwick last weekend.

Well the news is good from the Sirens and they had a 17-12 win to kick off their journey.

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This column loves the variety of portraiture that the Archibald Prize throws up every year and the question that came to mind was what rugby subjects have been featured over the years.

A quick dive into ChatGPT found that David Campese and John Thornett have made the cut.

‘Campo’ was tastefully painted by Paul Newton and was entered into the 2000 Archibald. Newton’s portrait of Roy and HG won the packing room prize in 2001. 

Thornett was painted by Lesley Moline in 1966 not long before he retired. The artwork was donated by the Thornett family to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. 

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