Wigan step up on Magic Weekend's welcome return to St James' Park

The Guardian

04-05-2025

Wherever it sits in the calendar, Magic Weekend always has the feeling of a seismic weekend in the shaping of every side's prospects.
Last year it was much more decisive given how it was played in mid-August, just weeks before the playoff began: but even here, on the May bank holiday weekend, Magic's return to Newcastle felt hugely significant.
That was in part because it provided the sport with a welcome tonic from the endless boardroom politics, with the public also voting with their feet on how Newcastle should remain the permanent home of Magic into 2026 and beyond, with a crowd of 64,156, the biggest since 2018, in attendance: and the highest ever Sunday figure too.
But there were plenty of storylines on the field too, as the regular season hurtles towards the midway point in 2025. There is now a clear trio at the summit, with the reigning Super League champions solidifying their place in that leading pack with a hard-fought win over Warrington Wolves.
They remain two points behind Hull KR, with Leigh just a further point back. It is still slightly too early to suggest that trio are the only contenders for the Grand Final: but right now, there is clearly a gap between the Robins, the Leopards and the Warriors compared to their next closest rivals.
Magic is a stage built for the biggest and best players to showcase their talent – and Wigan's dynamic duo of Jai Field and Bevan French both crossed for wonderful tries here. That ultimately helped Wigan to have just enough against a Warrington side hit by injuries, but who showed plenty of spirit here but fell short, losing 22-20.
But Sam Burgess' side, as mentioned, are one of a number of teams now falling behind the leading pack – three wins behind the trio already. That said, the Wire are firmly entrenched in a battle for the other three play-off spots with six teams: who are now just split by a solitary victory.
The debate over the strength of Super League's high tackle laws has also begun to resurface, emphasised by the opening game of day two on Sunday. Huddersfield claimed their first win of the season at the tenth attempt with a 12-10 triumph over Hull, whose early-season promise is starting to falter slightly.
Their cause wasn't helped here by the loss of two forwards in the moments approaching half-time. Sam Eseh was sin-binned for a tackle that was deemed to be dangerous on Matty English before, seconds later, Liam Knight was shown a straight red for an inexplicable hit on Sam Hewitt.
It left Hull's coach, John Cartwright, calling Knight and his side 'dumb'. His counterpart, Luke Robinson – who had two players put on report for contact with the head – joined the growing calls for a greater level of understanding and common sense over the finer points of tackling in the modern era. Whether he is listened to remains unlikely.
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But what of Magic in general? It is at this point in proceedings that we raise the question about what could or couldn't happen next year. Murmurings of Super League potentially going to 14 teams in 2026 will not go away – but even then, Magic will remain on the calendar.
The Guardian understands that talks between Super League and officials in Newcastle had started even before this weekend. The healthy crowd will have only added further weight to the fact that the game will be back at St James' Park in a year's time.
In fact, this was the sixth-highest Magic Weekend crowd in history – and RL Commercial's CEO, Rhodri Jones, revealed to the Guardian on Sunday afternoon that a decision to bring the event back to St James' Park next year is a long way towards being finalised already: with no other venues under consideration.
'Fans wanted to come back to Newcastle and the stakeholders here have been great,' Jones said. 'The stadium is great and we're delighted with the weekend and the attendance. It's fair to say that positive conversations have already happened for next year.' In truth, it is difficult to imagine this event being anywhere else.