DOUG LAING was the bearer of bad news late last Saturday night.
It was then our ertswhile shearing sports reporter revealed that one David Fagan won't be representing New Zealand at the world shearing and wool handling championships in Masterton next week.
Fagan had tripped at the last hurdle, the Southern Shears, held in my old home town of Gore in the deep south.
Top qualifier going into the final selection round, he had been eliminated in the semifinals and the Hawke's Bay duo of John Kirkpatrick and Cam Ferguson had pounced to claim the two spots up for grabs.
It was a bitter pill to swallow.
Not - certainly not - because of any questions over the ability of Kirkpatrick and Ferguson to rise to the occasion, but because the thought of Fagan leading his country to victory in what has to be his favourite arena was such a tantalising prospect.
Fagan's stats speak for themselves. You would probably need every centimetre of this edition to detail his list of successes but if we only mention his five world individual, six world team and 16 Golden Shears open titles I'm sure you will get the gist.
In fact, how he is not Sir David is absolutely beyond me when you consider some others who have been knighted because of their sporting prowess.
It speaks volumes of course for Fagan's fitness and competitive nature that he was even in the running for New Zealand selection this time round.
At over 50 years of age, he has reached the point in life where he could be excused if his standards were dropping. However, even though he will tell you he is no longer the force he once was, results suggest otherwise. And that's exactly why it wouldn't surprise at all if David Fagan again graced the winner's circle on grand finals night next Saturday.
Maybe even in the Golden Shears open final.
Methinks the roof will come off the rec centre if title No17 is chalked up!
But back to the worlds.You simply have to fancy the chances of the Kiwis taking the individual and team titles.
Ferguson is the defending champion in the individual, having won in Wales in 2010, the same year he scored his debut success in the Golden Shears open. He always gives the impression of being an unflappable customer, a trait which obviously helped him overcome the odds when he came from off the pace to make the New Zealand team at the last hop.
The only question mark over him is a back injury, which led to him withdrawing from another event at the Golden Shears, but hopefully that was only as a precaution with bigger things lying ahead.
Kirkpatrick, like Fagan, has long been a crowd favourite in Masterton and is the defending Golden Shears open champion. He too has tasted success at the worlds before, joining Paul Avery to win the teams title in Norway in 2008 and placing second in the individual competition at that same championships.
There are many who reckon Kirkpatrick is now in the best form of his career and, that being the case, it is hardly any wonder the TAB have he and Ferguson at the prohibitive odds of $1.05 to give New Zealand what would be their third consecutive world championship teams crown.
Bring it on!