Magic moments

Ahead of the 15th Magic Weekend event, we have taken a look back on some of the ‘Magic moments’ from across the years.

The first ever Magic Weekend was back in 2007 as Rugby League was taken on the road in a bumper weekend at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The Welsh capital though wasn’t an enjoyable place for Wigan as we fell to consecutive defeats to St Helens.

A change of scenery in 2009 saw the weekend had North to Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Again the Warriors were paired up with St Helens but it was a much more favourable result as we came away with a 38-18 win, before beating Huddersfield at the same venue a year later.

PICTURE BY Ben Duffy/SWPIX.COM…….. Rugby League Super League, Magic Weekend 2009, Murrayfield stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland…..02/05/09..Copyright – Simon Wilkinson – 07811267706..Wigan’s Michael Mcilorum is caught by St Helen’s Matty Ashurst

Back at Cardiff in 2011, and the Welsh turf still wouldn’t let up as we got one of only two draws in our Magic Weekend history, with a 16-16 battle against Saints.

From 2012-2014 the weekend was more local, held at Etihad Stadium in Manchester and a ground which was a good omen for the Cherry & Whites, beating St Helens and Leeds twice at the North West venue.

Matt Peet described the Leeds victory in 2014 as one of his stand out Magic Weekend victories in his weekly press conference: “We had a young team and I was working in the Academy at the time. Leeds were flying and we were depleted so quite a few of the younger lads played, I remember George [Williams], Ryan Sutton were early on in their careers, Joe Burgess and Mickey [McIlorum] – they got stuck into a few people and it was a really aggressive game and we came out on the positive end of the result.”

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com – 17/05/2014 – Rugby League – First Utility Super League – 2014 Magic Weekend – Wigan Warriors v Leeds Rhinos – Etihad Stadium, Manchester – Wigan players show their appreciation to their fans.

Next up, it was Newcastle’s turn as they hosted for four years on the bounce. In 2015 we beat the Rhinos 27-12, before backing it up with a 40-8 thrashing of the Leeds side in 2016.

Fast forward to 2017 and we played out a thriller against the Warrington Wolves, ending 24-24 in the end before going on to beat the same opponents at St James’ Park in 2018.

With defeat against Warrington at Anfield, Liverpool and again at Newcastle in the last few years, Wigan will be looking to get back to winning ways at Magic Weekend as we head back to Newcastle this weekend.

Over the years:

2007 – St Helens 34-18 Wigan Warriors (Cardiff, Millenium)
2008 – St Helens 57-16 Wigan Warriors (Cardiff, Millenium)
2009 – Wigan Warriors 38-18 St Helens (Edinburgh, Murrayfield)
2010 – Wigan Warriors 28-10 Huddersfield Giants (Edinburgh, Murrayfield)
2011 – St Helens 16-16 Wigan Warriors (Cardiff, Millenium)
2012 – St Helens 16-42 Wigan Warriors (Manchester, Etihad)
2013 – Leeds Rhinos 16-20 Wigan Warriors (Manchester, Etihad)
2014 – Wigan Warriors 18-14 Leeds Rhinos (Manchester, Etihad)
2015 – Leeds Rhinos 12-27 Wigan Warriors (Newcastle, St James’ Park)
2016 – Leeds Rhinos 8-40 Wigan Warriors (Newcastle, St James’ Park)
2017 – Wigan Warriors 24-24 Warrington Wolves (Newcastle, St James’ Park)
2018 – Wigan Warriors 38-10 Warrington Wolves (Newcastle, St James’ Park)
2019 – Wigan Warriors 14-26 Warrington Wolves (Liverpool, Anfield)
2021 – Wigan Warriors 6-10 Warrington Wolves (Newcastle, St James’ Park)

Fancy refreshing your memory? You can see a range of our Magic Weekend performances with full match replays on Wigan TV. Click HERE to watch our Magic Weekend playlist.