St James’ Park Magic Weekend table: Castleford TOP, Hull KR LAST
How would a league table based off Magic fixtures at St James' Park look?
Super League supporters have largely rejoiced at the news that one of the competition’s flagship events, Magic Weekend, is returning to what many consider to be its spiritual home in 2025: St James’ Park.
The two-day event will return to Newcastle after what proved to be a solitary year in Leeds at Elland Road in 2024. For many, it marks a return to the most popular location in which Magic has ever been played.
2025 will be the eighth year in which Newcastle has hosted Magic, making it by far and away the most synonymous venue with the event. And a number of clubs have largely happy experiences of heading to the North East for the event – underlined by the table of every Magic fixture ever played.
14 teams have played at least one Magic game in Newcastle during the event’s history – with ten ever-presents. And the team sitting top may well surprise you, as well as the team marooned to the bottom!
Newcastle’s most successful team when it comes to Magic performances is, incredibly, Castleford Tigers. They have a remarkable record of six wins from seven appearances at the event. Some of those victories will stick firmly in the memory for Tigers fans for all the right reasons, too.
Their 56-16 win against local rivals Wakefield at the first Magic event to be played at Newcastle in 2015, for example. They’ve also beaten Warrington, Salford and Leeds a staggering three times! Their one loss at Magic was against the Rhinos too: a 34-20 in 2022.
And despite a difficult season last year – much like the Tigers – it’s Hull FC who are just behind the leaders. They’re joint-second along with St Helens. Both those teams have five wins from seven attempts at the event in Newcastle – with Hull having a PERFECT record in Hull derbies at St James’ Park in Super League!
That means that, all the way at the bottom, it’s this season’s Grand Finalists Hull KR: who have a solitary win to their name from six games at St James’ Park. That came in 2021, when they defeated Leigh.
Two teams have four wins from seven: Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants. The Giants are a bit of a Magic Weekend specialist, with a very healthy record at the event compared to their overall finishes in Super League – and they’ve lost just twice at St James’ Park in seven attempts.
The top six is rounded off by Catalans, who have three wins and a draw from seven games, before Salford Red Devils and Wakefield Trinity, who have six points.
Two relative heavyweights of the competition come next with underwhelming Magic records at St James’ Park: Warrington Wolves and Leeds Rhinos have won just two out of their seven trips to St James’ Park. The Wire are ahead of Leeds courtesy of the draw they had with Wigan in 2017.
Then it’s the four teams who have not featured in all seven iterations of Magic at St James’ Park at the bottom. Incredibly, Toulouse are 11th out of 14 teams despite only placing at the event once – they have a solitary win, beating Wakefield in Newcastle.
Widnes played in the first four Magic Weekends in Newcastle, sporting some memorable kits along the way. They only one once however – as have Leigh from their three attempts, a victory against Wakefield Trinity last season.
And as we mentioned, it’s the Robins who incredibly sit last despite their progress in recent years. They’ve NEVER beaten Hull in Newcastle: something they won’t get the chance to put right next year, as they take on Salford.
MORE MAGIC: Magic Weekend 2025 fixtures confirmed with date for St James’ Park return revealed
