It stands to be pretty quiet around many of the eastern seaboard’s rugby league stadiums this weekend.

Despite being slated as the official home team, nine clubs will sacrifice a potential advantage and play host to their opposition at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

The arrangement sees many clubs sacrifice the comfy familiarity of home.

The Wests Tigers lose an intimidating and potentially packed Sunday afternoon crowd at Leichhardt against the Panthers. The Storm face the Eels on neutral turf in what looms as an important two points for both clubs and the Bulldogs lose hosting rights of their must win clash against the Knights on Saturday.

The Titans take the short trip up the road to face the Sharks on Thursday night, the Warriors must travel again and Rooster and Rabbitoh fans will miss out on the opportunity to see their high flying squads in action.

Rather absurdly, the biggest loser in all this is probably Manly; forced to face the Broncos on their home patch, in what looms as a line in the sand game for Anthony Seibold’s men.

Mathematically, what it means for the Sea Eagles is one less home fixture in 2019, with all Magic Round hosts having their number of home games lowered to 11. Those teams ‘on the road’ this weekend in the so-called ‘festival of football’ will still enjoy hosting rights on 12 occasions throughout the season.

If that fact annoys you as a fan perhaps it should, considering some clubs also take games on the road during the season to engage with rural communities and new markets. For those teams, the number of times Magic Round hosts actually perform in front of their home fans in 2019 is lowered to ten.

The Wests Tigers are a case in point after a trip to Scully Park in Tamworth to face the Gold Coast in Round 7, as are the Rabbitohs and Roosters; both booked in for a trip to Central Coast Stadium late in the season.

The Sea Eagles have already taken their Round 3 clash with the Warriors to Christchurch; they too have just ten home experiences at Lottoland in 2019.

Sure, the clubs have an undoubted choice in such matters yet the fans don’t and there may be some feeling a little short changed this weekend.

Of course, the NRL draw has never been fair, by definition it cannot be unless all sides meet each other twice in true home and away play. However, without a concrete and viable solution to that never-ending challenge, the NRL has chosen to tread into new and exciting waters by stripping home matches from nine clubs and sending the entire caravan to Brisbane for what they promise us will be magic.

Personally, I don’t get it. I don’t understand exactly what the weekend is meant to achieve. No doubt the games will be terrific to watch, they always are and the ratings will continue to be impressive for the broadcasters.

However, aside from some sort of football nirvana for those in Southern Queensland, what exactly do people who should be at their local ground this weekend supporting their team stand to gain from it?

Sure, they could rustle up a few thousand bucks, book some flights, arrange some accommodation and call in a favour to have the kids looked after while they head off to sunny Brisbane for a few days. But is this an everyday reality for working families?

Some people will make the trip no doubt, but for most, this weekend is nothing more than an opportunity to watch their team play a game of rugby league on television, rather than attend the ground.

Much has been made of the rugby league heartland that Queensland is, and that is something always to be celebrated. Yet whenever talk of mergers or expansion threatens the existence of the nine Sydney Clubs, it appears the NRL’s true point of origin is threatened.

The NRL lives and breathes through its Sydney roots with Illawarra, Newcastle, Canberra, Melbourne, New Zealand and the Queensland teams welcomed and valuable additions.

This weekend, those roots have been valued below the warm and sunny lure of Queensland and the ‘event’ mentality; complete with musical acts, the Youi Million-Dollar kick (whatever that is) and three-day passes.

I wish the weekend no ill, yet can’t help but think there will be a heck of a lot of fans outside Brisbane with their noses out of joint.

A lot of them probably wanted to head out, watch the footy and cheer on their team in Round 9.

Instead, they’ll be watching television.

14 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t get it, better off doing it in a city that the NRL doesn’t normally go to or something. Imagine the turf condition on Sunday. Going to be shocking in it rains.

  3. I pay for membership to see my team at home games.
    Will be interesting with 300 NRL players on 1 night club

  4. Manly take & have been taking there home games against Brisbane to Suncorp for the last couple of seasons. Last year it was round 10. They won 38 to 24.

  5. Unlike the occasional rural games some clubs do, the hosting clubs will make a lot more this weekend than they usually do at a normal home game, that’s why they agree to it. It’s why several Sydney teams have previously moved a home game or two to Suncorp. There is just as much advantage in keeping your club in good condition financially as there is in a home crowd.

  6. I pay my membership to see Home games in Sydney, the Roosters lose this one to a town not so keen on footy with Brisbane Pony’ club gone to the pack and soufffffs Roosters have to share the gate money for home games. I predict with soufffffs average home crowd of 11k and the Roosters home crowd average of 24k we together should muster up 35k for this home game.

    But on top of that the Roosters lose two more home games playing Melbourne in Adelaide and Cowboys at the Central Coast. So we pay for 12 home games and get 8 because the Anzac day is booked tickets only. Wake up NRL❗❕❗❕❗❕❗ Any wonder why 10,000 of our 24,000 average Rooster fans don’t bother to buy memberships don’t buy memberships but just pay as they go. 💪🐔👍🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱🎱 Eight Ball corner pocket👍

  7. This is an idea that’ll develop as years go by. 4 days is too long, 2 or 3 is ideal to keep the party atmosphere. As someone that’s been to the Super League ‘Magic Weekend’ myself, I can honestly say it is the best rugby league experience I’ve ever had. They have to do it better though. The thursday game is weak, and it really should have been named something less blatently stolen from the Super League… But this is an idea that’ll be around for a while, and it’ll only get better.

  8. Yes it is a great tactic to boost Manly home Crowd Average which at the “Goat Track” alias Lottoland formerly Brookvale is very poor with attendances.

    However the move to play their home game each year to Brisbane reaps dividends financially as well as a false boost to their Home Crowd Average Figures. Last years financial bonanza was nothing on the previous two.
    2018 31,118
    2017 44,127
    2016 52,347
    At this rate I suggest every team that plays Brisbane should play it up there in the Banana Bender🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌 Republic Capital city and that way The Ponies get to play every game at home.😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

  13. I agree, having been to a couple of Super League Magic Weekends myself, they are brilliant experiences and they never disappoint However, one of the reasons why they work so well is because they’re held in cities that aren’t traditional Rugby League strongholds. So existing fans get to have a weekend away somewhere different and new fans from that area can be drawn to it because it’s being held at their team’s soccer stadium. Personally I think the NRL magic round should’ve been staged somewhere else where the game’s growing.
    Also the Super League magic weekend is an extra fixture rather than replacing a home game so fans don’t feel like their nose is being put out of joint. Believe me, if a home game was taken off the Super league clubs and moved to another part of the country then it wouldn’t be anywhere near as successful.

  14. The big reason why this works in the UK is the fact that no matter where they hold it, it is never so far away as you couldn’t drive to it in a few hours. For many fans here, this is a plane journey away plus all the pumped up accommodation prices = just to much.

    Great idea screwed by the tyranny of distance and the greed of the many.

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