On that note, it’s time for Round 11, which means it’s time for the annual edition of… MAGIC ROUND.

Last year was the best edition of Magic Round to date, with crowds with crowds peaking at 48,359 on the Friday, then a crowd of 50,638 on the early Saturday night game when Wests Tigers played St George, then another crowd of 50,309 when Brisbane played Penrith on Sunday afternoon, a 3-day average of just over 49,500, and we should be on for another firebreathing weekend near Caxton Street.

Of course, the other major event of the week is the news that Ivan Cleary is stepping down as coach of the Panthers after 2027, after 4 consecutive premierships and 5 consecutive Grand Final appearances, and it appears the Riff are attempting some kind of John Howard-Peter Costello transition with former Panthers and NSW halfback Peter Wallace to take over from 2028, as Ivan has any one of a million pathways, from coaching New South Wales, coaching PNG, coaching the Bears after Mal gives up 30 seconds into the opening game… it could be a Howard-Costello situation or it’ll just be Wallace recreating Paul Keating on Bob Hawke:

One of the great quirky moments of rules occurred last Friday night as Mitchell Moses hit the game winning field goal in Golden Point against the Cowboys, in amidst having his legs taken out during the attempt, which led to what was seemingly a needless shot at goal in front of the posts, and despite the arguments of the Parramatta players to referee Kennedy fearing a complete screw-up, the Eels were made to take the kick as the rules stipulate that if a kicker is fouled during a successful field goal attempt, the shot at goal must be taken, and from in front of the posts:

Of course, the second part of Law 10 (b) was rendered moot due to the unique problem of Golden Point and the game having ended for all intents and purposes at the moment the field goal was confirmed by the Bunker, which was also compounded by the fact that the game couldn’t end on a penalty:

Still, the obvious problem in the whole situation was that there is no provision in the rules for a penalty after a successful field goal IN GOLDEN POINT, so all told the referee actually did a very decent job interpreting the rules in an awkward situation.

Of course, among other things:

– It resulted in the first 33-30 scoreline in First Grade history… the folks who had a 31-30 pick your score were beside themselves.

– The verdict from referees boss Graham Annesley in regard to a potential missed penalty goal was that the game was over the moment Ronald Volkman kicked the ball, even if he’d hit the post or somehow missed from directly in front, as per the Golden Point rule.

So yeah, you score a try in Golden Point you don’t take the conversion, you kick a field goal in Golden Point the game is immediately over, but if you kick a field goal and get fouled in the process, it’s another shot at goal.

Finally, after conceding 5 tries to Greg Marzhew and losing 44-10 to the Newcastle Knights in the Gong, the 2026 St George-Illawarra Dragons have officially recorded the worst 9-game start of the NRL era, as they join the 2005 Newcastle Knights and 2006 South Sydney teams as the only 0-9 teams of the era, but what got the Dragons into history making territory was that the 2006 Rabbitohs had For/Against of -150 and conceded 304 points in 9 games, the 2005 Knights had a For/Against of -180 and conceded 308 points after 9 games, and the 2026 Dragons have a For/Against of -185 and have conceded 309 points after 9 games.

It’s amazing to think that even the 1999 Western Suburbs team, which is the worst defence since the Great Depression (39.33 points against per game), managed to win one of their first 9 games, as they defeated Souths 20-18 in Round 7… the NRL punished Souths by kicking them out of the comp.

Anyway, NOW FOR THE ROUND 11 TIPS… and it was a bit random to see that last season’s minor premiers couldn’t get a gig in Magic Round… instead the Raiders have to stay in Canberra and sift through the carnage that Jim Chalmers delivered on Tuesday night.

Round 10 Result = 7/8

Round 10 Progress Score = 51/80 (63.75%)

The bloody Cowboys cost me a perfect round after leading 30-22 with 5 minutes to go.

Anyway, I randomly started listening to Weird Al Yankovic again this week, so as a tribute to the Broncos and their dozen injuries, here’s Like A Surgeon: