It might have been one of the best Magic Weekends yet. Betfred Super League’s annual trip to Newcastle saw the league leaders beaten, the champions finally take a team to town, the Leopards’ sensational rise continue and much, much more.
There were plenty of talking points, but we’ve managed to narrow down the juicy stuff to these six as we go through the big news to come out of the 16th edition of rugby league’s big summer festival…
It hasn't lost its Magic
There are question marks over the event’s future due to the involvement of IMG in the decision-making process as of 2024, with scheduling changes making the hosting of Magic Weekend by no means a foregone conclusion.
But 63,269 fans passed through the turnstiles at St James’ Park over the two days, making it the second most attended round of the 2023 season so far behind the Easter fixtures which featured the two biggest derbies in the game between Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers, and Wigan Warriors and St Helens.
If the RFL can possibly find a way to get Magic into the calendar at a time that suits in a venue that works, there surely remains a future for the weekend that appeals to the vast majority of rugby league supporters.
All to play for at the top
Without looking it up, we’re fairly certain it’s been about 17 squillion years since there were just four points separating the top seven teams after 14 rounds of the season. If it’s slightly more recent than that, we apologise.
But the point is that this is becoming one of the most unpredictable Super League seasons on record, with Warrington Wolves’ defeat to Hull FC in the final round being a case in point. The win for the 10th-placed Black and Whites over Daryl Powell’s former league leaders - deposed on Saturday after Catalans Dragons' 46-22 success over Wigan - was just the latest result which shows there is no heavy favourite in the comp in 2023, making every single round between now and September 22 absolutely pivotal.
Saints could be hitting their stride
Of course, all of this unpredictability has helped to hand out hope to teams who haven’t started particularly brightly, and chief among those were St Helens. The world champs have looked a shadow of themselves for the majority of this term, with Saints fans and neutrals alike wondering when they might finally show a bit of their old magic.
Well, they delivered on Sunday. Tommy Makinson’s 28-point display inspired a 48-6 thrashing of Huddersfield Giants in game five of the festivities, and the dazzling try finished off by Joey Lussick to round out the scoring was just one of a number of hints that Paul Wellens’ side are finally hitting their stride.
Back in the top six and just four points off the top – but then, who isn’t?! – the Saints could make a real statement on Friday night when they host third-placed Wigan, who they would leapfrog with a win.
Lengthy delays a sign of the game doing things right
There were a number of prolonged stoppages during games throughout the weekend for injuries to be dealt with, and chief among those came in the opening matches of both days as Hull KR’s James Batchelor and Wakefield Trinity’s Jack Croft both receiving attention in hospital after being stretchered from the field.
Batchelor lost some feeling after going down in an awkward collision during Rovers’ 26-16 loss to Salford Red Devils in the weekend’s opening match, but thankfully he was released from hospital later that day after full feeling returned. Then less than 24 hours later Croft was carried from the field on a spinal board with a similar issue.
In both cases the proceedings were delayed for around 10 minutes as medics were allowed to do everything they needed to care for the player in question, and while the scenes were worrying at the time they also demonstrated that rugby league is going to great lengths to prioritise player welfare, even on the biggest weekend of the league season in front of a nationwide TV audience.
Word too for Leigh Leopards’ Josh Charnley, who was quick to recognise Croft’s issue and reacted commendably when others might have been quick to attempt to gain a sporting advantage.
Wat next for Huddersfield Giants?
Just when it appeared that their win over Castleford Tigers might have been the start of something, Huddersfield’s season goes from bad to worse. The Giants’ shellacking at the hands of St Helens came thanks to a pitiful performance in which they looked like conceding a try every time Saints attacked in the second half.
Ian Watson’s future is a subject of heated discussion among Giants supporters, with the former Salford coach having been expected to take the club to bigger and better things after leading them to last year’s Challenge Cup final. Instead, they are fast turning into an irrelevance in this season’s Super League campaign, sitting in 10th spot on 10 points, six adrift of the competitive play-off picture.
They have now lost four of their last five in league and cup, and have started to ship points from all angles defensively while their attack looks all out of balance, with none of the flair nor structure that had become Watson’s hallmark with Salford. Concerning times for the Giants.
Wakefield hurtling towards unwanted history
That’s 14 losses from 14 now for Wakefield Trinity, and this might have been the most embarrassing one yet. Their 30-4 loss to Leigh on Sunday came despite the Leopards being reduced to 12 men for over an hour and even down to 11 for 10 minutes of that time after Tom Nisbet’s sin-binning. Even with the double advantage, they just didn’t look anywhere near up to scratch.
Mark Applegarth can say all the right things in the media, but his side are heading towards an unwanted record on current form. London Broncos hold the unwanted distinction of waiting longest for a win from the start of a Super League season, losing their first 23 games in 2014 before beating Leeds Rhinos 40-36 at The Hive in what was their only victory of that 27-match campaign.
The longer this season goes on, the more likely it is that Trinity will run that mark very, very close indeed.
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