Fair enough, that fixture list would be good but IMO the proper derbies are much better, so there should be a mix of the two!

Warrington v Wigan
Huddersfield v Saints
Bradford v Leeds
Cas v Wakey
Hull FC v Hull KR
Salford v Widnes
Quins v Catalans

This would be my preferred choice.

And, on paper, gift Leeds two points at our expense - which could make the difference between finishing in the play-offs or outside? And, I fear if we have another year like last, between survival and oblivion?

1v2 3v4 etc etc but based on the week before, so you only know who you are getting at the last minute.

Smart ass!

And a realist, like me, is one who spends his working life protecting organisations - from the damage that can arise from relying on over-optimism, whilst failing to recognise and take precautions against the consequences of what could arise if their optimism proves unfounded.

If we DO get Leeds, and if we DO get the points (despite the inevitable Ganson and the Vidref) then that is a superb bonus. But should we NOT, and that makes the difference between 8th and 9th (and based on the "where will we finish" threads most folk seem to be thinking we will scrape 8th) then I fear we may not have a club for the following season.

That said, if we play like last year, and anyway given how otehr teams have strengthened, we are unlikely to be favourites against ANYONE.

The derby thing is wrong, as indeed is the whole idea of an uneven fixture list when some teams play other teams a different number of times.

I for one am happy the magic weekend is being held up north so to speak, we have had the weekend at each end of the country for the past few years so why not have it a bit closer to home. I am sure some supporters have missed the experience due to the hard times and location over the past few years so this will give everybody a chance to enjoy the full game day without travelling to far for once.

I dont see anything wrong with playing it once every few years in the heartlands. It will attract fans that find it difficult to get to the more remote venues. For example. my 14 year old nephew is planning a day trip with his mates. And my neighbours are taking their kids. MM isnt particularly family friendly as its a long trip and the kids tend to get bored when their team aren't playing. But its more palatable if its a short trip and they can come home when the 9 year old has had enough.

There will be a lot fewer going for the two full days but that should be offset by more turning up for a couple of games.

Ehh???

Don't fancy your kind of puddings.

I've just remembered Manchester Magic is a Basketball team, though the name looked familiar.

Aside from my basketball observation, I don't think this is an awful decision by the RFL.

Manchester is a great city and one of the best, if not the best outside London, for hosting events. I've not been to the stadium before, but it looks pretty good. All that is near there is an Asda though and not a very nice housing estate, but there's lots of room for some 'fan zone' type things.

Manchester has a SL team in Salford a couple of miles away, as well as Swinton, Rochdale and Oldham in the periphery of the city. But actually within the city boundaries, there is nothing. It was always a nice surprise seeing someone walking around town in a RL shirt. I went to the University there and Rugby Union shirts at the uni were far more common than league. Plus Manchester is a world famous football city and near where I'd live 9/10 times the kids would be playing football, the other times basketball.

Manchester is arguably the second most important English city in terms of business, BBC Sport are now based there and the Magic Weekend could be a real opportunity to get people and businesses so close to the 'heartlands' into rugby league. It may appear to be lacking in ambition, but if this event is a success it could stand to gain RL a lot more than previous magic weekends.

Fingers crossed!

Maybe they could commit to taking it around the country, a different place every years, we've all banded out stadiums and areas, maybe somewhere new every year from Newcastle to London possibly even France and Spain during better times.

Do we know if there were ever any figure produced on the number of 'locals' that went to the matches or were they all people from the heartland that travelled. From my point of view I can justify going to watch a days rugby where no accomodation is involved.

There were figures published I think. From what I remember the number of locals was pretty low. The RFL had an issue with the people organising it in Cardiff (either the stadium people or WRU or someon) about the lack of marketing. That's why they moved it to Edinburgh I seem to remember. Certainly the couple of times I went to Cardiff for MM I hardly saw any posters or anything.

Edinburgh was no better for marketing. They showed it on Boots n All where they asked locals about it and most of them knew nothing at all about the sport or the fact there was this event on in the city over that weekend.

Personally, I'm in favour of expansion. Because the game needs to be spread to help improve it because the further the game spreads, the more people will watch and take part in the game. We therefore get a bigger player pool and more interest from sponsors. More sponsors mean more money in the sport. More money in the sport means more interest from the media.

Expansion beyond the M62 so far has failed beyond 2 teams; London and Catalans. London has it's well documented problems along with it's gypsy like status of being moved on every few years. Catalans has the obvious problem of away support, it's bloody expensive to go from the south of France to Manchester/Yeadon every other weekend. And vice versa, it's hard to get good away crowds flying down there, not that they don't do their best.

So with that in mind, why don't we focus on making the heartlands of the sport as strong as we can before we spread out beyond it. Therefore, having the Magic Weekend in Manchester is a better chance of getting a sellout than it would be in Cardiff or Edinburgh and makes the game much more of an interest.