In February? Chances are it'd be fekkin freezing. Can't see too many wanting to sit through 3 or 4 games, particularly kids.

Good point I dont see how it is failing either if the event makes a profit and helps to expand the game. The draw for the fixtures was unlucky this year with not many exciting games. I dont think a third derby fixture is the answer though, id have 1v2 3v4 5v6 7v8 9v10 11v12 13v14 from the previous years table. Fixtures can be announced in september the year before and all should be close games.

That was in 2008 though, when there were only 12 teams. I think the RFL were being extremely stupid when they decided to go with 4 derbies. I mean really, what was the point? 3 made sense: home, away and neutral. 4 was complete overkill. And what was more annoying for me was when they decided to scrap the derbies at TMW because "there were too many" and went straight back to 2 (at the same time the SL went to 14 teams, hence getting rid of the need to play some teams more than twice).



If you have to play one team three times, it might as well be a good match choice. They never needed to go with the 4 derbies route in 2007 and 8.

I think you're confusing what the coaches want to do with what the clubs want to do. I very much doubt the clubs will want a reduction in fixtures, especially when the majority are making large losses.

Personally I'd like to see the Magic Weekend moved to the CC 5th Round (and even the quarters and semis) so that the CC is a neutral competition and all clubs know where they are playing in the next round before it's even been drawn. I think it will bring more magic to the cup (and it's a Magic Weekend after all!), with the draw being after the last game of every round to keep people in the stadium.



Super League goes back to an even 26 games, with the extra fixture being replaced with an international weekend.

And give fans of non-Super League clubs barely a couple of weeks to organise travel and accomodation. No thanks.



As far as I'm concerned, the Magic weekend is a Super League brainwave and as such should be kept as far away from the Challenge Cup as possible.

You're kidding aren't you? Wigan v Hudds looks to be a cracker ditto Saints v KR, Hull v Quins is always an interesting tie and a couple of the others don't look too shabby either. While there are no "headline" games neither are there any games that will be a snoozefest either.

I'm becoming less of a fan of the "magic" weekend the more times they do it.



But they could have easily have created massive excitement by basing the fixtures on the previous weeks league table.



So we could have (on current table)



1st v 2nd (Wigan v Warrington)

3rd v 4th (St Helens v Huddersfield)

5th v 6th (Bradford v Hull)

7th v 8th (Hull KR v Wakefield)

9th v 10th (Leeds v Crusaders)

11th v 12th (Salford v Castleford)

13th v 14th (Catalans v Harlequins)



You can't get more even than that and it would create excitement in the build up to the event, not knowing who your going to be playing.



Personally I think it would be brilliant and apart from maybe 13th v 14th every match would be vital to top 8, top 4 or top spot ambitions and hardly anyone could complain of an advantage (apart from maybe Leeds who for this event would perhaps benefit from a poor start).



Day 1 looks pretty poor this year. Will be interesting to see how many fans choose to attend both days.

Is it? Did you not see the borefest at the start of the season? I find our games against the Quins the most uninteresting fixture of our season.

You could always space out the rounds so that there is more space between games than at the moment. As of now, there are 3 weeks between every round apart from the quarters and the semis (which for some reason there is a 10 week gap?!). Plenty of room to manoeuvre there.



And why is it only non-SL clubs that have less time? Last time I checked, SL clubs aren't guaranteed a 5th round spot (just ask fans of Hull FC, Hull KR, Wakefield, Cas and Salford!).



Then there is always the possibility that a team would draw a French based team or a London based team anyway, so at least you know where you're going and can plan BEFORE you know if you'll be there or not, and then go through with it after.





I'd be happy with it to stay in SL, but think it would be better suited to the cup (neutrality reasons, more on the line, more magic in the cup, etc.)

Fair points, but it would remove all benefits of getting a home tie, while removing the possibility of lower league clubs getting a lucrative draw in the 5th Round.

Well yes, it would remove all benefits of a home tie. But you could argue it would remove all negatives of getting an away tie. There are two sides to that coin. No-one is guaranteed to be at home or away. You could be drawn away every game, such is the way a random draw is. This way it is always neutral which is the fairest way.



And I don't see how it removes the possibility of a lower league club getting a lucrative draw in the 5th Round. If anything, it guarantees them a more lucrative draw. Last year, the aggregate attendance for the 5th Round was 30,822 over 8 games, so an average attendance of only 3,853, and the highest gate only being 7,176. The Magic Weekend usually gets near to that each day. You could be looking at something like 50,000 over the two days, which would be an average if 6,250 per game (nearly the same as the "lucrative" game of the round last year) for every team. And that's not to mention whether the host city pays any money in via the tourist board like they do for the Magic Weekend. You could find that it is much more lucrative for each club overall.