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MAGIC round produced some brilliant narratives as the city of Brisbane embraced a 48-hour rugby league bonanza.
Wayne Bennett steering the Dolphins to the club’s sixth win of the season in his 900th game as an NRL head coach was a fitting tribute for the game’s greatest coach.
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Doing it at Suncorp Stadium, the scene of so many of Bennett’s greatest triumphs, made it even sweeter.
South Sydney made a major premiership statement by chalking up five wins in a row and dismantling the highly-regarded Melbourne Storm In the process.
On the flip side it’s going to be a long week for St George Illawarra and the Parramatta Eels after both clubs were bitterly disappointing.
The Red V looked better in attack when Ben Hunt went to dummy-half but the problem is the captain doesn’t want to play there long-term and the Dragons still failed to get the two points.
Jayden Sullivan clearly needs to be in the side but that’s the least of the Dragons concerns as the board figures out the best way to pull the trigger on Anthony Griffin’s tenure at the club.
The way they’ve handled the coaching situation is a complete shambles that’s not fair on Griffin, the players, the club and the fans.
Eels get clutch last play awfully wrong! | 00:39
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It’s an equally big week for the Parramatta Eels who’ve gone from a grand final to being in danger of failing to make the eight the following season.
We’ll get a true read on the Eels when the face the Raiders in the national capital on Super Saturday, South Sydney in round 12 and then the Cowboys in round 13.
Parramatta will have a to try and roll the Raiders without their best player in Mitchell Moses who is out under the NRL’s 11-day stand down policy for concussion.
The Raiders are flying at the moment off the back of four consecutive wins and a forward pack being led by State of Origin contenders Corey Horsburgh and Hudson Young.
Big Red was enormous against the Bulldogs with his post-contact metres while Young is a try-scorer who has great versatility in his game combined with a hard edge.
Congratulations to the Wests Tigers on the club’s second win of the season with rookie fullback Jahream Bula submitting another brilliant all-round game to make it back-to-back victories.
Furious JWH ready to have a ‘crack’ | 00:48
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Bula’s aerial skills look special and the try-saving play he produced against a rampaging Mikaele Ravalawa to save the game was courageous and tough.
It’s hard to get a read on the Roosters. They’ve got enough stars and strike power but at the moment there’s something missing.
Will Trent Robinson decide to recall Sam Walker? The Chooks attack certainly didn’t click against the Cowboys.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is right. Jamayne Taunoa-Brown should have been sin-binned based on what we’ve seen from the match officials and the bunker over the course of this season.
The Cowboys prop clearly clipped JWH on the chin and the Roosters enforcer shouldn’t have had to engage in a slow play-the-ball to earn a penalty.
What were your likes or dislikes from a cracking Magic Round?
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