{"id":395456,"date":"2024-05-19T22:56:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T22:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=395456"},"modified":"2024-05-20T03:07:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T03:07:33","slug":"i-was-rattled-secret-sauce-behind-surreal-extravaganza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=395456","title":{"rendered":"'I was rattled': Secret sauce behind 'surreal' extravaganza"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRISBANE:<\/strong> Why would anyone want to move Magic Round away from Brisbane?<\/p>\n

Fresh off the NRL<\/a>'s decision to keep the marquee weekend in the river city for another three seasons, everyone involved stepped up once again to create a memorable weekend as over 140,000 fans flocked to Suncorp Stadium across three days.<\/p>\n

From the moment you step foot into the city for the marquee event, there's a sense of belonging if you're a rugby league diehard.<\/p>\n

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After checking into my hotel, the first thing I saw when I stepped out onto the pavement was a bloke with his two sons, riding the super-popular E-scooters.<\/p>\n

All three were sporting very rugby league mullets, but that wasn't what stood out.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The father was decked out in a Dolphins<\/a> jersey, one of the boys had a Cowboys<\/a> jersey on and the other was proudly sporting a South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a> kit.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/ljoloughlin\/status\/1791678340744810977?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

That's one of the great things about footy – families can be divided by teams, but brought together by their love of the game. I've experienced it for 20 years with a household split between Rabbitohs, Roosters and Dragons<\/a> fans. \ufeff<\/p>\n

While the city of Brisbane as a whole was buzzing, it wasn't until stepping foot onto the famous Caxton Street that things became ridiculously exciting.<\/p>\n

This place had everything. Magicians on stilts, \ufeffretro jerseys, a giant Steeden, live DJs and of course, the most iconic rugby league pub in the world – The Caxton Hotel.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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The fact that such a vibrant area is located in such close proximity to Suncorp Stadium is the exact reason why Magic Round couldn't be located anywhere else.<\/p>\n

Allianz Stadium is state-of-the-art, but the Moore Park precinct pales in comparison to Caxton Street and the Suncorp Stadium surrounds. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Inside the stadium, which remains the best in all of rugby league, seven out of the eight games were decided by narrow margins – thanks a lot, Parramatta – as supporters from across the eastern seaboard flocked to Suncorp to cheer on their team.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the most popular team – despite travelling from the furthest distance – was the New Zealand Warriors, who managed to pull off a shock upset against Penrith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\ufeff"It was pretty surreal," fullback Taine Tuaupiki said post-game after slotting the match-winning conversion against the Panthers.<\/p>\n

He wasn't the only one to appreciate the love and adulation of the crowd either.<\/p>\n

\ufeffSharks young gun Kayal Iro, who remains undefeated in the top grade this season, admitted the noise inside Suncorp took him by surprise.<\/p>\n

"I was pretty rattled," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"We were warming up in the sheds and we ran out and I didn't realise the crowd. This is what dreams are made of \u2026 it was pretty surreal."<\/p>\n

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Iro's teammate and potential State of Origin centre Jesse Ramien also praised the fans, admitting this edition of Magic Round "took the cake" compared to previous years.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Cowboys winger Murray Taulagi made his return from injury \ufefffor Magic Round and helped his side snap a losing streak<\/a> – but he credited the fans for the victory.<\/p>\n

"You feel the ground shake a little bit," he told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"It was a massive crowd, it felt like we were playing at home and full credit to the fans – they got us over the line there at the end."\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside of actual team jerseys, Brisbane was littered with those donning Bloke In A Bar kits to support the social media phenomenon founded by former player, Denan Kemp.<\/p>\n

There was also plenty of love for the man behind The NRL Roast, with plenty of fans – including myself – asking for a photo with the popular social media figure at the Caxton.<\/p>\n

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\ufeffWhile the action on the field was what brought everyone together, the good vibes off it is what makes Magic Round the spectacle that it is. Really, it's like a giant extended family including a few drunk uncles having the time of their life.<\/p>\n

Fans high on life – and maybe some alcohol – celebrating victories or drowning their sorrows after defeat. \ufeffMeeting people you've only ever spoken to on Twitter. Cheering your favourite players or booing those you aren't as fond of.<\/p>\n

Magic Round isn't for the faint of heart, but it's the best spectacle rugby league has to offer and making it a yearly tradition is something plenty involved wouldn't have to think twice about – especially if their team got the chocolates this time around.<\/p>\n

Up The Wahs! \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BRISBANE: Why would anyone want to move Magic Round away from Brisbane? Fresh off the NRL's decision to keep the marquee weekend in the river […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":395458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=395456"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395464,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395456\/revisions\/395464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/395458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=395456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=395456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=395456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}