NRL 2023 Magic Round review: Report card, hits and misses, why it belongs at Suncorp Stadium
REPORT CARD: With another Magic Round in the books, we run the rule over what worked - what didn’t - and who made the most of the biggest weekend on the rugby league calendar.
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With another Magic Round in the books, BRENT READ highlights the best and worst of the NRL’s showpiece regular season event.
1. MOVE MAGIC ROUND? NOT ON YOUR LIFE
Success has many fathers. It also attracts its share of vultures. Magic Round has been a raging success in Brisbane since its inception.
Once again, fans flooded through the gates over the three days - more than 140,000 in total - and other states and venues are now lurking with intent, ready to open their cheque books and make a play for one of the biggest events of the rugby league season.
Don’t waste your time. The NRL would be mad to move Magic Round once their contract with the Queensland government comes to an end next season.
The concept is a massive money spinner for the code and while the Queensland government continues to support the event, it should stay where it is.
The fans who flocked to the ground over the three days - no doubt the vast majority from Queensland, although thousands traveled from interstate - deserve plenty of loyalty as well.
Queensland rugby league fans support the code as passionately as anyone. They deserve some rewards. The chances of another grand final returning to the state are remote - this year’s destination is yet to be determined but the NRL will exhaust all avenues with the NSW government - and Magic Round is the next best thing.
It should stay where it is.
2. SURFACE SURVIVES
After all the panic about the surface at Suncorp Stadium - independent experts were called in before Magic Round began - the doomsayers got it wrong again.
Sure, the surface got chopped up. What ground wouldn’t given the amount of traffic it hosted over the three days.
But there were no major injuries related to the venue and no complaints from the players or coaches.
Suncorp Stadium general manager Alan Graham and his staff deserve an enormous pat on the back for the way they looked after the ground over the three days.
They told us the ground would hold up and they were right. Well done.
3. SUNCORP SALVATION
There’s really only one way to make your way to Suncorp Stadium. It starts, as always, with a walk down Caxton Street.
The iconic strip of bitumen was overflowing over the three days of Magic Round as the punters lapped up one of the great occasions on the rugby league calendar.
It’s a unique experience that needs to be at the front of the mind when officials sit down to decide what to do with Magic Round at the end of next year.
Having savoured the delights of Caxton Street, the fans - many of them well lubricated - made the short walk to Suncorp Stadium once the rugby league got underway.
There’s not many - if any - rugby league venues that compare. The new Allianz Stadium goes good, but remarkably doesn’t have the capacity of Suncorp Stadium.
Not sure what officials in NSW were thinking when they decided to plough $800 million into a stadium and capped the capacity at just over 45,000.
Suncorp Stadium has nailed it. The queues aren’t long, the viewing experience can’t be topped and the atmosphere will stay with you forever.
You gotta love The Cauldron.
4. PLAYER OF MAGIC ROUND: MITCHELL WEAVES HIS MAGIC
The big boys come out to play on the biggest days of the year. There aren’t many bigger than Latrell Mitchell when it comes to talking about the superstars of the game.
Mitchell was at his best on Saturday night as South Sydney went to town on Melbourne.
It had a bit of everything from Mitchell. He sent up one try with his right foot and another with his left.
He played with a chip on his shoulder and perhaps with State of Origin on his mind, engaged in a push and shove with Storm hooker Harry Grant.
The pair were together for six weeks at the end of last year on the Kangaroo Tour but the friendship hasn’t carried over if Saturday night was any indication.
When Mitchell is in the mood, he is box office. He makes South Sydney the team to beat this year. he turned Magic Round into Mitchell Round.
5. TEAM OF MAGIC ROUND: PHINS UP
Wily Wayne Bennett did it again on Saturday afternoon. The Dolphins were meant to be cannon fodder for a Cronulla side that has been flying in recent weeks.
Not so fast, said Bennett. His patched up outfit stormed out of the blocks and the Sharks were left in their wake.
Bennett, a seven-time premiership winner, is 73 and coaching as well as ever. Plenty of good judges believe this might be the finest coaching performance of his 900-game career.
He has taken a side tipped to fight for the wooden spoon and turned them into top eight contenders. They blitzed the Sharks on Saturday with centre Valance Te Whare turning in a blinder on his debut.
Not many had the Dolphins in their top eight before the season began. Bennett may have the last laugh yet.
6. SURPRISE PACKET: TE WHARE LIVES UP TO MAL COMPARISONS
Speaking of Te Whare, he doesn’t really look like an elite footballer. He carries a few kilos and only started playing rugby league a few years ago.
In the opening minutes against the Sharks, he was put on show by Cronulla winger Ronaldo Mulitalo.
Mulitalo’s dancing feet left Te Whare grasping at thin air and the immediate thought was that it was going to be a long night for the debutant.
To his eternal credit, Te Whare gathered himself and went on to have a memorable debut. He is far from the finished article, but he is living proof that sometimes you don’t have to look like an Adonis to play like one.
7. FLOPS: DRAGONS ON THE VERGE OF DISASTER
Yes Dragons fans, you know the answer here. St George Illawarra lost their fifth game in a row at the weekend - yet another heart-breaking defeat - this time at the hands of the Wests Tigers.
The Dragons are in all sorts. They keep finding ways to lose, the latest when Moses Suli had the chance to back himself and crash over, only to throw a wayward flick pass that was eventually snuffed out by the Wests Tigers.
The Dragons are in a share of bottom spot and it was hard to watch the press conference following their latest defeat as coach Anthony Griffin addressed his future yet again.
He looked like a beaten man, although he insisted his voice still resonated with the players. Their recent performances would suggest otherwise.
Yes, they could have won all five games. But they didn’t and now they find themselves involved in a wooden spoon dogfight.
The Dragons have never won a spoon and no-one doubts they have the talent to drag themselves out of their current situation.
That only makes it more frustrating - with the quality of their squad, they should be fighting for the top eight not the spoon.
These are dark days at the Dragons and the sooner they make a formal call on Griffin the better for all concerned.
8. THE MOMENT: SUPER BULA
Wests Tigers fullback Jahream Bula has been a revelation since being handed an opportunity in first grade.
He produced the moment of Magic Round in the dying embers of the game against the Dragons when he got in the way of Moses Suli and then raced across field and stopped Mikaele Ravalawa scoring in the corner.
Bula is turning into one of the stories of the season. A few years ago, he quit the game to chase a basketball career.
He appeared on the Tigers radar last year and head of recruitment Warren McDonnell, who recently had his powers diluted following the arrival of Scott Fulton, swooped.
McDonnell deserves as much credit as anyone for Bula’s signature. Without Bula, the Tigers probably lose on Sunday. He is a star.
9. WHAT HIP DROP?
The panic merchants among us warned that Magic Round was in danger of turning into Manic Round given the recent furore over the hip drop.
Yet you know how many hip drop charges emerged over the weekend? One. Maybe the NRL is winning the war after all.
The match officials, in fact, had a good weekend. Save for one overzealous Warriors sponsor, they received little criticism.
Even Canberra coach Ricky Stuart, who doesn’t mind sharing his thoughts on officiating, was happy to let a clanger slide on Friday night when his side should have been awarded a try,
The fact that the Raiders won no doubt saved the officials from a serve.
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Originally published as NRL 2023 Magic Round review: Report card, hits and misses, why it belongs at Suncorp Stadium
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