Campo’s Corner: Best, worst and weirdest of Magic Round

Best try, best game, best fans, best lessons — Campo’s Corner was on deck at Suncorp Stadium to soak up everything the NRL’s inaugural Magic Round had to offer. Here’s what we learned.

The dust has settled, friendships have been made and broken, blood was spilt, tears were shed, tries were scored, battles were won, hearts were broken, South Queensland Crushers fans were spotted and the NRL’s first ever Magic Round is in the books.

Campo’s Corner was at the ground, rubbing shoulders with the punters and urging the referees to, at last, get ‘em onside. The biggest lesson we learned? That maybe the real magic was inside our hearts the entire time. Here’s the best, worst and weirdest of Magic Round.

Storm fans show their support during Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium. Picture: AAP

BEST GAME

Coming into the weekend the Roosters-Raiders showdown was probably the pick of the matches and it took a while to warm up but eventually delivered.

Like their Round 2 loss to the Storm, Canberra took a while to get going and against the best sides in the competition that’s a death sentence. The Roosters played some truly dazzling footy, mainly through James Tedesco who is truly hitting top form at the right time.

Despite, or perhaps because of, a massive injury toll turning what was an art form into a blood sport the game kicked into an higher gear in the second half as the Raiders clawed their way back from 30-6 to have a real shot at forcing golden point only for Nick Cotric to throw a pass that was so forward Jarrod Croker was halfway up Caxton Street when he reeled it in.

The game confirmed what we already knew about the Roosters (they’re really good) and will give Canberra confidence despite the defeat. Although the Chooks lost many a troop, the Raiders were without Joey Leilua, John Bateman and Joseph Tapine and lost Jordan Rapana midway through the game and still managed to fight back from a deficit that looked truly ominous early on. Another meeting between the two is sure to be a ripper.

James Tedesco was superb for the Roosters. Picture: AAP

Special mention must go to the Storm’s massacre of Parramatta on Saturday night. By the time the third game rolled around the crowd was feeling the pinch a bit, as a long day in the sun will do to anyone, and they wanted some hard and fast entertainment that didn’t require too much deep thought.

With apologies to the Eels, Melbourne turning Suncorp into a track meet was totally exhilarating. Curtis Scott’s length of the field try, made all the better by Blake Ferguson’s chase, and Ryan Papenhuyzen further boosting the Storm’s fullback stocks with numerous slashing efforts of his own were just what the doctor ordered. There’s also some perverse pleasure in watching a team get absolutely belted and saying things like “I tell ya what boys, 70 could be on here”. It was miserable for the large contingent of Parra fans who made the trip but great viewing for everyone else.

BEST TRY

Scott’s aforementioned long-range effort looked like it would take some beating and Jai Field haring for the corner off Paul Vaughan’s offload could be a breakout moment for the diminutive Dragon but the pick of the lot is Josh Addo-Carr’s second try of the Saturday night massacre.

Any time Addo-Carr gets a look at space the crowd always rises but this was a particularly artistic effort — he simply existed at a higher speed. Even though they were already up by 10 million points the crowd went off when he sold the final dummy and cruised in under the posts. You could spend three days at the Treasury and not land such a winner.

It was in defeat, but Michael Morgan’s kick for Justin O’Neill was another beauty. The corkscrew kick recalled the banana kicks the Johns brothers so fancied in the late 1990s and sparked lively debate if Morgan meant to do it or not.

Josh Addo-Carr always get the crowd on its feet. Picture: AAP

BEST JERSEY

There were jerseys all over Brisbane the entire weekend at every hour of the day or night and it really helped build a sense of occasion over the entire city. On Friday night in particular, once Caxton Street closed and people started walking into the ground, there was already a special atmosphere, which is no small feat given this was the first year of the Magic Round.

Special mention must go to the few brave punters who rocked South Queensland Crushers jerseys (sadly, Brisbane was not gripped by Anzac gold fever), the numerous Toronto Wolfpack jerseys and the bloke who was spotted wearing the red and black of the Cork Bulls, the pride of Irish rugby league.

But the undisputed champ is the guy who was wearing a Western Reds jersey with a NSWRL logo. We’re getting deep in the nerdy rugby league grass here but bear with me — the Reds didn’t enter the competition until 1995, when the competition officially rebranded from the NSWRL to the ARL. How could they have a jersey bearing a logo that was discontinued the year before they existed? It was totally incongruous, a paradox worthy of Marty McFly.

The jersey was spotted early on Saturday afternoon and the mystery remained unsolved and a real head scratcher for all until the man of the hour was tracked down at Lefty’s on Caxton Street. He explained that it was a rare promotional jersey made in 1994, one of only a handful in existence. A toast of rum was raised to the man, his jersey and the Reds themselves.

BEST FANS

A carnival atmosphere permeated the city through the whole weekend with every club represented. Knights fans always travel well and if one was to start a “New. Cas. Tle” chant anywhere within the city limits at least one or two Novocastrians were sure to respond. Because we’re in southeast Queensland there were Kiwis everywhere and the Warriors-Dragons match was practically a home game for the New Zealanders, while the Raiders faithful packed out a bay and did everything short of breaking out in a Viking clap to get the boys home.

On an individual level, the fellas from Sportsbet who camped out in one of the corporate boxes all weekend put in a top shift. A corporate box is a great place to be for an afternoon or evening but for three days it’s a bit tougher.

There were plenty of Warriors fans on hand to cheer their team to victory. Picture: AAP

OTHER DETAILS

— The NRL copped some flak for scheduling Titans-Sharks as the opening clash of the weekend but it still got more than 17,000 fans through the gates, the best attendance for a game between the two sides since 2013.

— For all the fretting about the surface it held up reasonably well, although it was a tad mangy by the close of Rabbitohs-Cowboys. According to NRL Physio aka Young Injury God, the week had a typical numbers of injuries for a round at this point of the season. There was no return to the Sandcorp days, when the stadium’s surface captured many a knee injury after it reopened in 2003. The dry, fast track meant the footy was always of a good standard.

— Rugby league can have a problem making games into events and stacking matches on top of matches solves that problem. It won’t be on the same level as Magic Round but the Test triple header at Auckland’s Eden Park at the end of the season will be in the same ballpark.

— From a scheduling standpoint it’s worth exploring if it could be tweaked in the future. Perhaps a Friday double header and triple headers on Saturday and Sunday could work better from a spectacle standpoint, although no doubt the broadcasters would cry foul.

FINAL VERDICT

Magic Round is an absolute winner, if not an 11/10 then certainly close and now it’s a proven commodity I’d expect it to be even bigger next time. For the rugby league tragic it’s an absolute must.