The third annual Magic Round will see the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Brisbane Broncos do battle once again this Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.
The Broncos won the inaugural Magic Round match against the Sea Eagles in 2019 with Manly winning the 2021 match. Magic Round was cancelled in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Manly in Magic Round
2019: Brisbane 26 d Manly 10
A reshuffled Sea Eagles team fought gallantly in their 26-10 to the Broncos in the Friday night match in front of a crowd of 41,388.
Hooker Api Koroisau opened the scoring for Manly when he caught the Broncos defence napping to dart over from dummy half.
The Sea Eagles were twice denied tries to winger Abbas Miski on an obstruction call and a forward pass before Brisbane five-eighth Anthony Milford used his speed to step past Kelepi Tanginoa to score for a 6-all half-time scoreline.
The Broncos then put on two quick tries to Corey Oates and Matt Gillett for a 16-6 lead before the Sea Eagles received another injury blow with hard-working prop Toff Sipley taken from the field with a knee injury. It was later confirmed as a season ending injury.
The Broncos ran in two more tries to Darius Boyd and David Fifita with Manly grabbing one try through Jack Gosiewski.
Match Highlights: Sea Eagles v Broncos
2021: Manly 50 d Brisbane 6
The Sea Eagles recorded a crushing 50-6 victory to record their biggest ever win over the Broncos in front of a crowd of 41,367.
Full-back Tom Trbojevic and winger Jason Saab scored two tries each in front of a crowd of 41, 367.
The Sea Eagles dominated the first half to take a commanding 20-6 lead into half-time through tries to Tom Trbojevic, Sean Keppie and Jason Saab.
The only negative for the Sea Eagles in the first half was losing five-eighth Kieran Foran to a hand injury while Brisbane had three players placed on report.
Saab extended the Sea Eagles lead to 26-6 when he leapt high to defuse a Cherry-Evans kick to score out wide before the Broncos had Tyson Gamble and Jordan Riki placed on reports for a second time, resulting in both players heading to the sin bin.
The Sea Eagles then clicked into third gear with further tries to Jake Trbojevic, Lachlan Croker Tom Trbojevic and Josh Schuster.
Winger Reuben Garrick had a memorable night with the boot, kicking nine goals from nine attempts.
Match Highlights: Sea Eagles v Broncos
