{"id":841720,"date":"2026-08-03T11:30:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/841720\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T11:30:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:30:03","slug":"nrl2026-nrlw-magic-round-finds-a-home-in-the-bush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/841720\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL2026: NRLW Magic Round finds a home in the Bush"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI looked out into the crowd and thought this is exactly why I play”.<\/p>\n

Under blue skies, at a packed Geohex Park in Wagga Wagga, Roosters skipper Isabelle Kelly suggested that Magic Round may have found its natural home in the bush.<\/p>\n

Bega-raised Wests Tigers co-captain Kezie Apps said: \u201cIt just feels like coming home when you go into the country”.<\/p>\n

Wagga\u2019s first NRLW Magic Round was a celebration of regional rugby league, welcoming more than 14,000 spectators across the weekend and uniting players in their praise for the Riverina\u2019s embrace of the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n


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NRLW Best Moments \u2013 Round 5<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all a bit shocked by the amount of people that turned out to come and watch,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Dragon\u2019s captain Brooke Anderson added: \u201cWe rocked up on the bus, and there were massive lines outside of fans, kids, families”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With fans travelling from as far as regional Queensland and queues extending hundreds of metres to enter the stadium, NRLW Magic Round highlighted the value of taking elite women\u2019s sport directly to regional communities.<\/p>\n

The NRLW drew thousands of supporters to the \u201cCity of Good Sports\u201d, and Wagga comfortably rose to the occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s such a big appetite for footy out here, and the stands are full of all various different fans from different clubs.\u201d Sharks skipper Tiana Penitani Gray said.<\/p>\n

For many players, the most significant moments came after full time. With young fans lining up to get a chance to meet their heroes.<\/p>\n

The scenes around Geohex Park highlighted the unique impact on NRLW players in inspiring the next generation of female athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really struggled to get off the field, that\u2019s how good the crowd was. I did my best to show my appreciation to the young kids and fans,\u201d said Warriors captain Apii Nicholls.<\/p>\n

The weekend was, perhaps, best summed up by Warriors coach Ron Griffiths, who said the success of Magic Round was in reinforcing the value of connecting the NRLW with regional communities.<\/p>\n


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\n \u00a9Anthony Kourembanas\/NRL Photos
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\u201cThese players have the opportunity, just by one interaction, to create generational change,” Griffiths said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an organisation, we understand the magnitude and take great pride in being able to represent our sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust through one interaction, these girls can inspire someone who can go on and have a 10 or 15-year NRLW career and change things for their whole family.”<\/p>\n

For the seasoned NRLW stars, the thousands of fans who packed Geohex Park, was a reminder of how far the women\u2019s game has come while providing a glimpse into where it is headed next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI looked out into the crowd and thought this is exactly why I play”. Under blue skies, at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-841720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}