Magic Round preview A Set the default text size A Set large text size
Replay A Set the default text size A Set large text size
After last year’s festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Magic Round returns this year, with Suncorp Stadium to play host to all eight matches this weekend.
Following a recent COVID scare in Sydney, all players have been placed under the same stage three restrictions that most, if not all, of Australia were subject to at the height of the pandemic last year, for what is hoped to only be a brief period.
The Brisbane Broncos are under siege.
A second Brisbane team is set to enter the NRL in 2023, the Titans are now a genuine rival - on and off the field - and along with the Storm, Warriors and Cowboys have shattered the illusion that the Broncos don’t lose players they want to keep.
First it was star forward David Fifita’s decision to turn down a lucrative deal to join the Titans last season.
Then the Warriors prised boom fullback Reece Walsh from Brisbane’s grasp earlier this season and the Cowboys snared halfback Tom Dearden.
Now the Storm have managed to lure Queensland Origin winger Xavier Coates to Melbourne.
Brisbane s leadership void has been laid bare after scans confirmed Pat Carrigan s season-ending ACL rupture.
His absence, coupled with first-choice skipper Alex Glenn still being sidelined by a calf problem, now has a quintet of unlikely captaincy contenders being lined up by coach Kevin Walters.
Glenn is still 2-3 weeks away, meaning playmakers Jake Turpin and Anthony Milford are in the captaincy mix alongside forwards Payne Haas, Matthew Lodge and Tevita Pangai jnr.
Walters is yet to make a call on who will lead the Broncos in Friday s Magic Round clash with Manly and beyond.
But he is hardly spoilt for proven choices given Milford is fighting for his career at the club while Haas, Lodge and Pangai have courted off-field controversy with alarming consistency.
Carrigan s ACL injury leaves captaincy void at Broncos
Brisbane Broncos lock Patrick Carrigan will take no further part in the 2021 season, with scans confirming the 23-year-old has a ruptured ACL. So who takes over as Broncos captain at Magic Round? 2 weeks ago