Thinking about it, it wasn't exactly random them pulling Salford out of the bag (They were given opposition from the lower half of the table). Wigan were picked a team out of the top half.

At the end of the season, top spot could come down to a couple of points - maybe even points difference, this could be that difference....an added on match with no significance other than two competition points.
The game stinks!

Why can't the Magic Weekend be played at Wembley, or the Emirates Stadium?

Ok the problem with Wembley is it may take away the novelty of the Challenge Cup, however for the lesser teams (like Cas) it gives their fans a day out to experience Wembley and see their team play, as they would probably not get there for the final. I think we should at least give it a go in London as we are really stuggling to get a foothold on the game in London, as shown with the support Quins get after all their years in SL.

We could try the Emirates stadium as it would be held towards the end of the football season, and it could easily be arranged by Arsenal playing their last game of the season away from home. Both these grounds are open to hosting other events, as Emirates has hosted a few international friendlies over the years.

I'd prefer to drop it altogether, and use the free weekend for a competitive England game, perhaps against SL "foreigners".

I think it's a stroke of genius that is just marketed poorly. Why tell us about it? We're rugby fans we already know about it. Tell the local people who might be interested but have no idea about it. Get into schools and hand out tickets. 20k, 30k who cares? Get the locals into it. Send some coaches into a school get the kids interested and they'll pester Mummy and Daddy to take them. Bingo.

Don't think it would have the same affect in the heartlands as it's a weekend event and not just a one day thing. Needs to be somewhere that you would travel too for the weekend.

Are you sure you and me arent related ?

I been saying this since the ill conceived concept was born.

I don't think the RFL should ever give away 20,000 or 30,000 free tickets. Devalues the event and the sport.
A better idea would be to hold some kind of rugby league related competition in the local schools and have a few hundred tickets as the main prize.

I think its a great idea but it needs fine tuning to get the best out of it. Location is everything and although Edinburgh is a great place Murrayfield isnt the best. St james park, Millenium stadium, Old trafford, Elland road, City of Manchester, Anfield, Wembley, Emirates would all get better turnouts imo and theres probably quite a few more venues that would too. The games need to be competitve to make it work as well i feel. Bilko's idea of league placings determining who plays who is the best ive heard so far.

If it the games were going to be fro a "draw" than it should not have been top 8 and bottom 6. It should be open. Bradford and Warrington have benefited from finishing outside the top 8 last season.

Correct. We should have had the opportunity to draw one of the lower teams. Such as Quins......

Joking aside, I do agree with you. Who knows at this stage whether the Murrayfield draw will impact on final league positions? It's certainly a possibility and I don't see too many wolfs ( ) fans complaining.

it can't ever work as a 3rd game because you will always have the view that teams get an unfair advantage with who they are drawn against. The derbies worked better even though We'd always draw saints and leedsvbradford etc but its more likely that the form book goes out of the window but you still ended up with warrington v salford. I think the full structure of the fixture list has to be loooked at seriously. I'd like to see 12 teams in SL with the season starting at the beginning of March but even with 14 teams in 26 games would only still take us to the first week of September. (granted CC etc extends it further.)

I'd like to see a State of Origin type series still played midweek, but if the yorks/lancs fixtures didn't attract then england v superleague series would be immense.

I'd also like to see a weekend celebration like the magic weekend but not in "development areas" but in the heartlands like city of manchester stadium/hillsbrough etc so we can get the profile of RL back up to national recognition but instead of playing a league game it should turned into a 7's tournament or similar.

I have to admit that I enjoy the Magic Weekend, although the fixtures this year really don't inspire me.

I'll be there on Sunday nonetheless, but I do think it's a shame that we moved it away from Cardiff just as it got established.

Murrayfield is OK, but a little out of the way.

Wembley is much, much worse - Stuck in the middle of an industrial estate.

Millennium Stadium was/is far better - Within walking distance of restaurants/pubs/whatever else you want/need, good atmosphere, etc..

The only things that spoiled Cardiff for me were the consecutive losses to Stains and that bloody roof. For ****s sake, we're an outdoor sport. Open the pigging roof - Even if it's raining.

How about the Ricoh Arena?

No thanks who wants to be sent to Coventry