THIS weekend’s Magic Round at Suncorp has more ‘pizzazz’ than usual with it being a full-on State of Origin selection trial added to surely fire up an already spicy weekend of NRL.
There are also players taking part this weekend that sum up the very title ( Magic) of what we’re about to witness.
With that, I’ve nominated the 5 players who are a must-see this weekend as Brisbane gets set to host one of the real extravaganzas our game delivers.
At 8pm Friday night the Rabbits take on the Dolphins.
At the time of writing, it was still unclear whether or not Latrell Mitchell would be playing so I’ve left him out. He would have been on this list otherwise but I’ve gone for one of his team’s opponents this Friday night in the Dolphins electric fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow! The stage seems set for someone of the Hammer’s calibre. His sheer speed simply cannot be coached and given it’s a ‘home-game’ for him he’ll be out to put on a show for the QLD strong crowd in attendance.
My next Magic Man plays at 5.30pm this Saturday evening, and the irony of the situation cannot be lost. Sam Walker is on the verge of achieving something very special in his rugby league career and that’s donning the Maroon jersey of his home state Queensland. The irony I speak of is that with Tom Dearden out of Origin due to injury, his spot will be taken by either Walker or his Roosters teammate Daly Cherry-Evans! An amazing coincidence that I feel will lift Walker to get his team a win ergo a Maroon jersey as well.
At 2pm this Sunday the Titans welcome Newcastle to Brisvegas. And it’s the Knights mercurial full back Kayln Ponga who will have all eyes on him. His comeback from injury over the past couple of weeks has been breathtaking! He has been up to his eyeballs in involvement and surely just needs to get through unscathed to find himself coming up against NSW in this year’s origin.
At 4pm as well this Sunday the Warriors travel across the ditch to try and enhance their position on the NRL ladder where they sit snuggly in 2nd spot. But the fullback for their opponent, the Brisbane Broncos, may have other things on his mind. Magic Round is custom-built for someone like Reece Walsh and you feel and with an abundance of teammates out injured he will take it upon himself to get his team over the line.
Lastly, but most definitely not ‘leastly’ the final game of Magic Round this year is the Penrith Panthers up against the lacklustre Dragons outfit at 6.25pm. And who else but Nathan Cleary to be the last of my 5 ‘Magic Men”. Quite simply, Nathan is in a mood that quite frankly no team can answer. His play this season has unbelievably gone to another level! Ricky Stuart sung his praises last Sunday and he has taken a 7 point lead over nearest rival the Warriors Jackson Ford in the pursuit of the much coveted Dally M Medal.
Penrith are obviously the team to beat this season and the way in which Nathan Cleary is playing, brings bad news for the other 16 teams as well as Queensland!
MG (random Westie) OAM
