by Paul Cook –

A look at the list of Ken Catchpole Medal winners over the last 20 years reveals a host of players whose reward for being named as the Shute Shield’s finest player, was a chance to show their wares at the next levels of the game.

Last year’s winner, David Horwitz, has already racked up 10 appearances for the NSW Waratahs in 2016 while Peter Besseling (1999), Sam Harris (2000), Des Tuiavi’i (2001), Tim Donnelly (2005), Peter Hewat (2006) and Brendan McKibbin (2010), also got to pull on the Cambridge Blue while racking up a fair few overseas experiences along the way between them as well.

Andrew Smith (2009) is back at the Brumbies after a stint in Europe, fellow former Shoreman Keith Gleeson (1999) went on to play for Ireland, Gavin DeBartolo (2006) for the US Eagles and Dave Harvey (2008 & 2011) is currently preparing to represent the Brazilian Sevens team at the Rio Olympics having previously mustered 10 caps for the Western Force.

Scott Fava (2002/03/04) played five tests for the Wallabies and became the first player to represent four different Australian Super  franchises, and then there’s probably the biggest success story of them all – Scott Fardy. Having shared the award in 2008 with Harvey, the former Warringah loose forward had to do the hard yards abroad before being recalled home by the Brumbies in 2012. Four years later, he has become one of the most consistent players in Super Rugby, has 30 Wallaby caps to his name and will start this Saturday night against England in the opening match of the three-test series.

Spare a thought then for Fardy’s fellow Rat, Hamish Angus. Not only did the flyhalf finish 2012 as the Shute Shield’s best and fairest, he also went on to win a second outright Catchpole Medal two years later, and yet, perplexingly, he is still to be found plying his trade around the fields of Sydney’s clubland every weekend, patiently waiting for that similar opportunity.

A fresh-faced 22-year-old back in 2012 when I first interviewed him following that inaugural Catchpole success, Angus may have had good reason for feeling the rugby world was potentially at his feet at the time. His award came off the back of a stint in the Aussie Sevens set-up – he played the entire 2011 World Series and a few more tournaments in 2012 – and he was preparing to join up with the Waratahs for their pre-season training camp.

But the Tahs opportunity evaporated, and further time spent in Canberra, where he represented the Brumby Runners, and a one-off run-out for the Western Force A side against Samoa in Brisbane, have also drawn a blank in terms of anything concrete in the professional arena. Yet he remains one of the most consistent performers in the club competition, piloting his side around the park to two successive finals appearances in a row, and earning the club captaincy in 2016 as Warringah hunt down that elusive title once again.

Angus celebrates his first Ken Catchpole Medal in 2012 with the great man himself – Photo: SPA Images

Angus will turn 27 in November, and while each passing year brings with it an increasing reality that the envelope containing that golden ticket is not about to land on his doorstep, he certainly isn’t about to throw away any burning desire to play professional rugby.

“I definitely haven’t given up on it,” he told Rugby News this week. “There have been some opportunities to go overseas and when I look at other guys enjoying their footy in Europe, it does make me take note and is something that interests me in the long term. But for the moment I am really enjoying my footy at the Rats and I believe we have unfinished business in this competition.”

Those ‘other guys’ include the likes of Sam Ward, Tom Hill and Ed Gower, all of whom played alongside Angus for the North Harbour Rays in the NRC before heading to Italy for a chance to experience rugby from another perspective. Reece Hodge too, has used the Shute Shield and the NRC as a springboard to Super Rugby and even the fringes of the national side. But the eminently affable Angus harbours not an ounce of  jealousy at the progress of his peers.

“Not at all, I love seeing players get rewarded for their efforts,” he says. “It was awesome to see ‘Hodgey’ step up into Super Rugby and also Boyd Killingworth for the Aussie Sevens. I love watching my team mates make the step up.

“It has been great playing at that next level in the NRC and seeing that the difference between good Shute Shield rugby games and/or players, and Super Rugby, isn’t that far. I think it is a great leveller to see where we are as players and where we need to be to get to that next level.”

Which brings us back to Warringah.

For as much as he may still dream of a life beyond, there is no doubting the passion and commitment to the cause Angus exudes for the Rats. As he says, he feels that there is unfinished business for the current playing group at Pittwater, and a Shute Shield Premiership would be just the tonic to put himself and a host of other talent in the shop window.

A win over Penrith in last week’s deluge-affected round 12, has lifted the Rats to 5th place on the ladder. And while the rearranged fixtures for both Randwick and Manly may see them drop back to 6th or 7th depending on those delayed results, they still sit in a pretty handy position as the regular season draws towards a thrilling conclusion.

Seven wins, a draw and four losses doesn’t tell the whole story of a season where consistency has been their major downfall. But the fact that those four losses were all within a converted try, and that they can boast the third best defence in the competition, go some way towards explaining their ladder position and why they should be considered as genuine title contenders. That and the fact that you could throw a blanket across the top eight teams right now if you are looking for an eventual champion.

A 21-year-old Angus representing the Aussie Sevens in Hong Kong back in 2011

“It’s a testament to the comp at the moment that anyone in the top eight can beat each other, and we’ve already seen that both West Harbour and Parramatta can burgle teams as well,” says Angus. “That does make it congested in the middle of the ladder where we are, which is good because it means we’re still in the hunt after dropping a few games. But that also means that certain games in the season that you circle as ones you should be winning, have now become must-win games. You just can’t afford not to win them.

“In previous years it’s maybe been the top three sides that are going to battle it out for a title but it’s anyone’s game this year,” he continues. “Instead of teams thinking ‘On our day we can burgle that team’, I think it’s a free-for-all, which makes it such an exciting comp. Anyone can beat anyone in the top eight right now and that’s going to make for a really interesting run into the finals. It’s those teams that can get on a run that are going to be really dangerous in the closing weeks.”

Their current unbeaten run of three games is their best of a somewhat stop-start season so far, and Angus readily admits that his side are yet to click into top gear. But that concession in itself should serve as a warning to everyone else, particularly when you factor in the disruptive number of injuries that plagued the Rats for the first half of the year.

Star fullback Dave Feltscheer’s likely season-long absence has been keenly felt but with the cavalry in the shape of Michael Adams, Tyson Davis and Brad Dixon emerging from the treatment room in recent weeks, and the returns of Sam Ward from Italy and Josh Holmes from the Aussie Sevens respectively, a full strength Warringah should prove more than a handful for any side.

“Every game we’ve lost this year we’ve been within seven points, and looking back at those games we should have won a number of them,” reflects Angus. “In the ones we’ve won, we haven’t really dominated a team except the odd one here or there. But we’ve been finding a way to win, which is something we had at the start of last year as well. You’ve got 20 minutes to go and you’re down by 10 but you’re not afraid of that because you’ve got this feeling that you can win from anywhere. That gives us confidence heading into the last few rounds.

“Like most teams we’ve lost a few players to injuries since the start of the year, so it’s great to start getting these guys back now. It’s a testament to them that they’ve had eight month injuries but they’re at the club every week cheering on their mates and waiting for their opportunity to contribute, and the boys really enjoy playing with those guys. Missing some of our most dangerous individual players has hurt us but that also created opportunities for guys like Seb Wileman and Max Jones, and these guys have really put their hand up and played some great footy.”

The influence of Ward and Holmes in particular – both on and off the field in such a tight-knit player environment as Rat Park – cannot be underestimated.

“It’s great to have Wardy back, he’s such a great clubman, not just as a 1st grader. He fits so well into our culture and it’s great to have his big smile walking around the sheds and his big frame out there on the pitch because both have been missed. And Josh is just a class player, he offers us so much experience and is such a threat in attack.

“We are hopeful of seeing more of him in the coming weeks. I know how keen he is to play for the Rats so if the opportunity is there, I know he will play. Having those guys back alongside Micky, Brad and Tyson should help us to perform better. It will lift 2nd grade, lift us as a club and be a positive bounce to push us through to the end of the year.”

Angus’ partnership in the halves with Josh Holmes has been one of the highlights of Warringah’s ascent to finals contention in recent seasons – Photo: Karen Watson Photography

What those players should bring, and the increase in the ‘Points For’ column in the last three rounds is an indication, is a return to the free-scoring Rats that we’ve seen in recent years. A team that had become renowned for it’s length-of-the-field exploits, and was seemingly hamstrung at the same time by a porous defence and a below-par scrum, has reversed the trend in 2016.

For while they do indeed have the third best defensive record, and have nurtured a scrum that is now capable of gaining parity at the very least with some of the best packs in the competition, their attack sits two places lower than their actual ladder position, and prior to round 10, was averaging a full 7pts less per match than their 2015 incarnation.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that the return of a few leading lights has seen them rack up three of their four biggest points totals of the year since then – a 42-35 win at West Harbour, a 30-all draw with Eastwood, and last weekend’s attritional 48-0 defeat of Penrith. Naturally, a combination of both attack and defence as a potent force is the ultimate goal if they are to feature heavily at the pointy end of the competition.

“Our defence has been the big improvement for us this year,” observes Angus. “We have worked really hard on our communication and defending as a team, not as individuals, and it has been working well for us. And to be winning scrum penalties, to be getting good ball to launch off, they’re things that we’ve struggled with in recent years when we’ve probably relied on the backs to create tries off of scrappy ball. Now, the backs can cool their jets a bit and the forwards can rumble.

“We have played in a few dour games, particularly at the start of the year where we had some low scoring night matches in wet and dewy conditions. But in terms of our attack I think we have left plenty of points on the field. We have been guilty of pushing the pass and being impatient. We want to play the expansive footy the Rats have been famous for over the last few years, but when our execution is slightly off it can become our Achilles heel.

“The return of Josh, ‘Micka’ (Adams), Brad, and Wardy has put a smile on my face as the number 10. It’s nice to have proven game breakers outside you, and Wardy giving us that extra go forward. We have been involved in a lot of arm wrestle games this year so it has been nice to really throw the ball around in recent weeks and score some points. It hasn’t been a conscious effort to focus more on attack, I think that both those games (Wests and Eastwood) opened up nicely for free flowing rugby and the points came as a result of that.”

The draw with Premiers Eastwood, the team that ended the Rats interest in week one of the finals last year, has fuelled the belief that they really aren’t that far away this time around. “They’ve been a successful team for a long time and know how to find a way to win, so to stick with them and almost come away with the win was very pleasing,” says Angus. But the first challenge in this season of uncertainty, is getting themselves into position to strike for home.

Eight into six clearly doesn’t go, and with only 11pts separating 1st placed Sydney University and 8th placed Manly – and don’t think that isn’t a situation that isn’t being toasted at the northern end of the peninsular – all bets are currently off as to who will make up the finals series. With seven games to go, five of which are against sides in that top eight, Warringah’s destiny is very much in their own hands. And should they come through that knockout-style end to the regular season unscathed, and with a few notable scalps to their name, why wouldn’t they feel this could be their year?

Angus is aiming to help the Rats towards a third successive finals series – Photo: Karen Watson Photography

“We don’t fear anyone in the competition,” affirms Angus. “It’s nice to be above Manly but at the end of the day, there are so many teams that can win the comp the main focus at the moment is to take one game at a time and qualify for the finals. From there it is really open.

“We will have to earn it the hard way but I don’t think that is a bad thing. You want to be match hardened going into the finals and our last few rounds will be a real test, but you can’t afford to look too far ahead. Ideally, you want to be finishing in the top two so you get a home semi and another bite at the cherry if you lose, but looking at the remaining seven rounds, each team has to keep winning to make the final and that makes for exciting rugby.”

There is no doubt that having a player like Angus with his steady hands on the tiller is a boon for Warringah. His reading of the game, positional sense, ability to turn up the heat on the opposition or release the pressure on his own side through his accurate boot, plus a reassuring knack for dissecting the posts on a regular basis, all add up to a playmaker that has matured nicely since that breakout season of 2012.

“I would like to think I have become a better player,” he says, with not even the faintest whiff of braggadocio. “I am definitely more astutely aware of my teammates and how what I do affects those around me on the field. As a younger player I think I was more concerned with how I played than how the team performed. Now being a senior player, and captain, I would much rather a win and for me to have a personal shocker than to play well and not win.

“I guess that is down to maturity and knowing my role in the club and in the team. The major thing I have learnt is that rugby is played for the enjoyment and to not take yourself too seriously, and we are good at that at the Rats. We play our best when we are having fun and that’s the main thing.”

And such is the positive culture up at Narrabeen right now, fostered by a group of young local talent – and best friends – that have come through the grades together, even the aspiring Angus concedes that a maiden Premiership would take some topping in terms of achievement. Offer him a professional contract or the chance to get his hands on the Shute Shield, and the answer is unequivocal.

“That’s the easiest question of the lot!” he laughs. “And you can take the Catchpole Medal’s as well, I’d take a Shute Shield Premiership with the Rats hands down. To do that with your best mates – nothing would come close. I might even retire!”