 Dan Frogan No 4
It has been a very busy and yet successful week for the club. Nine wins from nine games played in the last two rounds has been a healthy return. However, to be where this proud club should be, Parramatta and Blacktown are clubs that should be dealt with.
This round poses a more significant challenege when the Waratahs of Manly come calling. Frogan, currently the Australian Women's Cricket team's slips fielding psychologist, counsels that if the club puts in the effort that it has demonstrated over the last fortnight, anything can happen.
(Stephenson the older bowling to Marshall Rosen at Manly)
Finally, after four rounds, Frogan has encountered a side that he actually played against. By the time that Frogan played first match at Manly Oval, Peter "Percy" Philpott had just finished his 14 year reign. Instead Frogan ran into Manly's favourite son Mick Pawley, who was at the height of his powers as a cricketer.
The records of that match have been lost and modesty precluded Frogan from sharing with me what must have been an important contribution. Frogan did share with this column the day, some seasons later, when current selector and photographer Stephenson the Older, bowling from the southern end of the ground, was awarded the wicket of Gordon's second most valuable batsman (after Frogan) and current committee member Marshall Rosen. Frogan, standing at the other end, remembers how Rosen protested his innocence and cited a broken bat handle. To this day Rosen pleads that he was robbed!
 Keeping with the Manly theme, Frogan recalls that moving into the 1980's Gordon welcomed a young spinner from the Manly called Chris Hinds. A spinner and a batsman Hinds played with a the Stags for a number of years at about the same time that a young Richard Stobo had burst on to the first grade scene, not long out of Knox College.
On one particular day at Chatswood Oval (for those that are unaware Chatswood Oval is a ground at which Gordon used to play) Frogan enjoyed telling a story of preparation. Those in the dressing room on that day will recall that Stobo was entertaining the team with his nigh on boundless knowledge. That knowledge included the virtues, ahead of his time some say, of "slip, slop, slap". Stobo enquired of his teammates on this bright sunny day whether any of their number had any zinc cream. It was surprising to Frogan because when he started H B Taber had his shirt brazenly unbuttoned to his navel.
The former Manly man Hinds produced a inoccuous round tin of white cream. Without pause in his lecture, Stobo lavishly applied the white cream to his nose and before long he was out on the ground to do what he continues to do now in giving 100% for his club.
 It struck Frogan as being quite strange that the "zinc" on Stobo's nose soon became clear and over the course of the day it appeared to become harder and shinier and before long it resembled a boot on an undergraute at Duntroon, such was its spit and polish. Frogan was tipped off that something was not quite right when the younger members of the Gordon side could barely contain themselves. Stobo toiled on, his nose growing ever harder and shinier. The end of six hours in the field saw the young Stobo, take his turn in the showers but much to his chagrin he was unable to remove the "zinc". Upon confronting the provider he realised that he had been done, when we saw Hinds polishing his shoes with the sun screen. Meltonian "sunscreen" to be precise. Oh Stobo, Frogan remembers it like it was yesterday.
In the pre-season Frogan was sad to learn that Todd the Younger had decide to leave the Stags and head back to where it all started at Manly. A father and son duo who have taken over 300 first grade wickets for the club, it is a loss and the end of an era but Frogan looks forward to catching up with Todd the Younger, having always enjoyed watching the Todd leg-spinning gene pool. However, the club has gained another Manly player over the off season in Danny Redrup and Frogan has a feeling that this will prove to be a good trade for Todd the Younger. A solid middle order batsman and nippy left armer, it is a combination that could prove extreme useful to the Stags in the next decade.
 In other news it was good to see McDonald and Stephenson the Younger bowling to the World XI at training during the week. Particularly pleasing to Frogan was seeing the Prince getting "sniffed up" by Stephenson. However, Frogan was preturbed to read in Will Swanton's article in the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday morning:
(Stephenson the younger at Manly)
"Not that Lara batted too well. With only three short days to go before the Super Test, some bloke with a large belly and thinning hair - not Australian selector Merv Hughes, just some unknown net bowler - managed to knock over Lara's middle stump."
I think that Stephenson will accept that it may be getting a little thin on top, he may even accpet that he has a burly frame (a large belly is hard to
accept) but who the heck does Swanton think he is. He may not know Stephenson the Younger but Frogan does and that is what counts. Swanton should be reminded that Frogan was nominated for a Walkely award on the basis of superior writing skills and certainly by doing some research.
"Who's that?" is a question that most journalists are familiar with Swanton.
Quite frankly, Frogan was not impressed by some journalist who had an article about Brian Lara on page 36.
Good luck to fourth grade who seek to hold the Mal Hall Memorial trophy. Mal was a great club man who played his cricket with a great desire to win but most importantly he enjoyed every moment. There must surely be a case to make this trophy an award contested by all grades over the round.
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