 Dan Frogan No.7
Well the editor got most of it right. It is certainly true that the guru, whose moniker this column bears, has been extremely busy over the last 4 weeks. It seems that everyone has wanted a piece of him and this writer knows first hand the benefit that can be gleaned from having Frogan in your corner. However, Frogan was called in late by the skipper of "Koomooloo" to lend his knowledge of competing in the great ocean race. Needless to say, at the time of writing, "Koomooloo" was leading its division, about 150 nautical miles from Constitution Dock.
Frogan, in true Frogan style, has not neglected his beloved club and even had time to bash out some notes from "Koomooloo's" nerve centre over the last few days.
There are a number of current issues at the club that Frogan has targeted for comment. The first is the fantastic start to the season that the AW Green Shield team has made to the season. These young men are the future of Gordon cricket club and it is wonderful to see them making an early impact to the competition but, more importantly, adding points to the club championship. Frogan said that looking at the way these young men play reminds him of Ken Eastwood in his heyday for the club. The player who would move south to Victoria before playing his lone test in Sydney against England in 1971, scored this club's highest individual score in Green Shield when he plundered 320 in the early 1940s. Frogan mused that he saw much of a young Eastwood in Angus Sinclair's swashbuckling innings of 99 against Parramatta. Much is expected of this highly talented bunch.
 Quite what the affect of Green Shield coach Brendan McDonald will have on this young troop is anyone's guess. All the singing, celebrating and general shenanigans for which McDonald is known are fine; but never let us forget that McDonald is from North Sydney. The fact that he saw the light, after a false start 12 months ago is fine, but let's not rush things. Surely McDonald requires an intensive education process before he is let loose on our future.
(Dinner for Hoppa surpassing 350 wickets)
And speaking of "McDonald" and "loose" in the same sentence, Frogan was pleased to be present at a dinner prior to Christmas and the start of the Sydney to Hobart to mark Ed Howitt Jnr's eclipsing of selector Tony Wilson's aggregate of wickets for the club. Many thought that the dinner was to mark the passing of the 350 wicket milestone; but Wilson is far more consumed by himself than that and the celebration had to involve some homage to young Ant Wilson and his right arm door knobs. Enough strokes have been dedicated to Howitt this year to cause repetitive strain-type injury to a number of contributors to the website. This writer could not be bothered keying anymore, but Frogan wanted to reiterate his admiration of a player who tries so hard as a "spinner" and yet rarely turns it off square.
The dinner at a well known restaurant in Crows Nest, one of Wilson's favourites, presumably due to the size of the proprietors' moustaches, was apparently of exceptional quality. Meals were of sublime quality and so big that each of the attendees was barely able to finish, before rolling out the door at circa 11.45pm, three days before Christmas.
 Many had a night cap before retiring except for the club captain, club fitness trainer and dazzling young club import who were found to be still awake and still having a few sociables at 6pm the next evening. It is an example that Frogan thinks augurs well for the club and if it does not bring back memories of Keith Miller, it must then surely see performances repeated the like of Andrew Symonds in the Melbourne test, following his breach of curfew in England recently. Wilson was not amongst those who partied away as he had a rendezvous with his sun bed planned for 9.30am on Friday. Interestingly, neither was McDonald despite a comparable performance after the Christmas party, instead McDonald helped guide home his boys against the Whales of Mosman the following day. Very responsible indeed.
Gordon's playing record in the game after Christmas has been suspect in the last few seasons. However, Frogan recognises a huge chance for the club to build significant momentum with a solid performance against last season's club champions in Sydney University. Certainly Sydney Uni have been a very strong club over the last few seasons, being the beneficiaries of a number of undergraduates being available to join the club. In 1994/95 Sydney Uni expressed their pleasure to snare the services of Kelly, when he was a then Gordon second grader. In contrast, the good fortune that the club has had in finding the likes of Magill, Phelps, Mail and this season Clark deciding to study at the Broadway campus is quite simply remarkable. In any event, a good performance against SUCC is attainable by all teams.
 It is with great interest that Frogan awaits the 2006 part of this season.
He is desperately looking forward to the continuing march of Craig Simmons towards Charlie Macartney's single season run record, a record as many know that is close to Frogan's heart. (Macartney scored 824 runs in 1914/15, Craig is on 573)
(Charlie Macartney and Craig Simmons...if the cap fits...)
Many good judges thought that the 1976/77 season was ripe for Frogan to mount his own plunge on the record. However, a shocking concussion suffered by Frogan when his unbuttoned shirt failed to stop the huge medallion that he was sporting hitting him in the head and forcing to retire hurt on 0*. He did not play another game during the season and, as it turned out, he never played agian for Gordon on a regular basis as his other talents called him away from Chatswood Oval on a regular basis.
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