{"id":502256,"date":"2026-05-13T21:39:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=502256"},"modified":"2026-05-14T00:27:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:27:26","slug":"joey-backs-brisbane-call-as-fittler-floats-magic-round-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=502256","title":{"rendered":"Joey backs Brisbane call as Fittler floats Magic Round change"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Queensland government has confirmed that Magic Round will remain in Brisbane until the end of 2032, much to the joy of league great Andrew Johns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The future of Magic Round had sparked intrigue in the NRL<\/a> world in recent weeks amid reports bids from alternative venues across the country, and across the Tasman, were beginning to emerge.<\/p>\n

But despite interest from alternative venues, Queensland premier David Crisafulli has secured a deal with the NRL to seal the future of the event in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dozen dominoes to fall after shock Ivan Cleary news<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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"I told Queenslanders we would stare down those other states and get this deal done and now Magic Round is secured for Queensland for the next six years," Crisafulli said.<\/p>\n

"It's a really big deal."<\/p>\n

\"Players<\/p>\n

The annual festival sees 16 teams face off at Suncorp Stadium over the course of three days, with the women's State of Origin kicking off the event on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

As the game continues to grow, there is no doubt that alternative venues will again be floated to replace Brisbane as a host venue.<\/p>\n

Johns is unsure that many of the potential options are suitable for Magic Round. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffLeave it in Brisbane, it is perfect up there," he said on Nine's Freddy and the Eighth<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"It seems to work. The stadium is close to the city. Everything is close to the city.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Brad Fittler replied: "Western Australia would be good … it would be all day games.<\/p>\n

"Optus Stadium would work. You could do it in Perth\ufeff and it would work a treat. It is a massive ground, like Suncorp."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Johns conceded his biggest issue with Perth as a host venue was the field itself.<\/p>\n

"Oval (field)? You want to play on a rectangle and be close to the field (as a fan)," he said.<\/p>\n

Fittler replied: \ufeff"It would be nice, though.<\/p>\n

"We need to get over there and get some fans. \ufeffFor the game, it is well and truly worth it to take it to Optus. It is a brilliant (precinct)."<\/p>\n

Nine's Danika Mason then flagged the possibility of the event moving to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

"Maybe Eden Park," Johns said while considering alternative options.<\/p>\n

"Eden Park would be the place \ufeffto take it. They would absolutely love it the Kiwis."<\/p>\n

Fittler interjected: \ufeff"The games would be on at 10 o'clock at night."<\/p>\n

The NRL's Magic Round will kick off on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Queensland government has confirmed that Magic Round will remain in Brisbane until the end of 2032, much to the joy of league great Andrew […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":502261,"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\/502256"}],"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=502256"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502263,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502256\/revisions\/502263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/502261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=502256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=502256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=502256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}