By Tallon Smith

Regional NSW will take centre stage a week after Brisbane hosts NRL Magic Round 2025 when Tamworth plays host to the inaugural NSW Cup Regional Magic Round the following weekend in May.

The event, which will be held from the 9th until the 11th of May next year, will see four Group 4 First Grade fixtures played alongside a full round of NSW Cup matches, all at Tamworth’s Scully Park.

The move comes after the Wests Tigers announced they were ending their multi-year partnership with the Tamworth Regional Council and Group 4 that saw premiership games played in the city until this year.

The Werris Creek Magpies and Gunnedah Bulldogs will kick start the event with a big Friday night clash, with other Group 4 fixtures over the weekend seeing Narrabri tackle Kootingal-Moonbi, the Moree Boars take on the Dungowan Cowboys and the bush footy Cinderella story of 2024 in the Boggabri Kangaroos face the perennial powerhouse North Tamworth Bears.

Confirmed NSW Cup fixtures for the event will see the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles take on the Sydney Roosters, Newcastle Knights face the North Sydney Bears, Newtown Jets tackle the St George Illawarra Dragons, Parramatta Eels play the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Penrith Panthers lock horns with the Western Suburbs Magpies.

Speaking at the launch of the event, NSWRL CEO Dave Trodden said that the state body is looking forward to taking the showpiece round to the regions.

“The NSWRL is looking forward to hosting the 2025 NSWRL Regional Magic Round in Tamworth to acknowledge the wonderful contribution that Regional NSW has made to our great game for more than a century,” NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden said.

“There will be a lot of work involved to successfully execute the three-day event and I thank Wests Tamworth for their support in making it happen. The Group 4 competition will be showcased around five games of the state’s premier competition, The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup.

“There will be other activations and events for families to enjoy and I encourage everyone from the region to come along next year and show their support.”

Also present at the launch, Group 4 Chairman Lad Jones said that a good turnout of both local and state level footy fans is expected when the three-day extravaganza rolls into the Country Music Capital.

“It is really great news for the region; it will attract a lot of people and bring great exposure for rugby league within the area,” Jones said.

“Having Group 4 First Grade included as well is nothing but great news; it will bring great exposure to our competition and enable Group 4 to be front and centre to showcase the great player talent in our area.

“Wests are a massive supporter of Group 4 Rugby League and rugby league in the wider region and have been for a lot of years.

“It is exciting for them and NSWRL to bring such a massive event to Tamworth and to allow our competition to share the weekend at a premier rugby league venue in Scully Park.”

The NSWRL had long been criticised for its lack of commitment to playing state level fixtures in regional areas, particularly given that the QRL’s Queensland Cup competition has hosted a ‘Country Week’ where all games in one round are played at bush footy venues across the state for over a decade.

While some may disagree with the Magic Round model, which sees Tamworth host all of the action instead of the six fixtures in a NSW Cup round being evenly distributed across the state’s six regions, many fans believe the move is a major step in the right direction.

The announcement also comes off the back of just five games being played in regional centres next season across both the NRL Pre-Season Challenge and Telstra Premiership, with two of them being played in Mudgee alone.

The national body has also failed to schedule a fixture in Adelaide for the second consecutive year, undermining the platform laid for the expansion of the game back into the state after 48,000 people attended the first State of Origin match at the Adelaide Oval in 2023.

For context, only the ‘Showdown’ fixture between Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide managed to get a higher crowd than the Origin, which outdrew all fixtures played across the AFL’s ‘Gather Round’.

Three premiership games will be played in Perth next season in addition to the second State of Origin, with a double header scheduled for April and another fixture set to be played in June.