League Express editor MARTYN SADLER considers the pros and cons of Super League’s Magic Weekend at Everton.

NOW that the dust has settled and a few days have passed since the Magic Weekend, perhaps it’s time to reflect on the positives and negatives of the experiences at Hill Dickinson Stadium and the Stade Pierre Fabre in Castres.

What can we take away that’s positive from the event and what can we identify that needs improvement.

Here are my ten positives balanced by ten negatives. I would be interested to know how many people agree with me.

Ten Positives

1 Hill Dickinson Stadium itself. A fantastic venue for watching the game, with its steep banking and excellent facilities. It would be hard to imagine a better configuration for a modern stadium.

2 The attendance – a record 82,925 people came through the gates for two days at Everton and one evening in Castres. The previous record was 68,276 at Newcastle in 2016.

3 The good humoured crowd that looked as though it was enjoying itself in the good weather on both days, with few if any complaints of bad behaviour..

4 The fan zone outside the stadium, which proved popular, especially with young supporters who were not there just for the action on the field.

5 Our prospective Prime Minister Andy Burnham being present on Saturday and, in an interview with Sky, promising to help Rugby League in future when he gets into Number 10.

6 The fans being able to keep the balls that were kicked into the crowd.

7 David Armstrong’s try for Leigh Leopards on Saturday afternoon, with his pace and elusive ability thrilling the club’s supporters, including Andy Burnham.

8 Olly Ashall-Bott’s mesmerising performance for Toulouse Olympique on Saturday night that enabled his side to register a shock 60-18 victory against Catalans Dragons – the first time they have ever beaten their French rivals.

9 Ash Handley’s hat-trick for Leeds, which included the 150th try of his career.

10 The thriller between Wigan and St Helens, which was the last match of the Magic Weekend and certainly stole the show in terms of the intensity of the game and the closeness of the result.

And here are ten things about the Magic Weekend that are a little less positive.

1 Too many one-sided scorelines. Before the final game the average winning margin had been 27 points (including the game in Castres). Next year it would make sense to plan for close games, rather than derby matches.

2 The atmosphere failing to be constantly projected through the TV screen. Sometimes viewers watching the game at home might have thought there was very little noise in the stadium.

3 Huddersfield and York wearing similar strips in the opening game that made it hard for the spectator or TV viewer to separate their players.

4 The length of games, with injuries, video refereeing decisions and captain’s challenges pushing several games to last for two hours.

5 The image of an adult depriving a young St Helens supporter of a ball that was kicked to him.

6 The balls produced for the Magic Weekend at Everton having the wrong badges, with Catalans included instead of Leeds.

7 Warrington coach Sam Burgess’ sulky manner when being interviewed after the game. It’s fine to be disappointed but every coach has a responsibility to respond civilly to a pitchside interview.

8 A conversion by Leigh’s Adam Cook being disallowed because the shot-clock had wound down, when he had to wait several seconds for a ball to be provided for him. Fortunately the decision to disallow the goal didn’t affect the final result, but in future the clock needs to start ticking when the goalkicker receives the ball.

9 The Catalans game kicked off at 9.00pm local time in France on Saturday night, which must have cut down the potential attendance. It would have been far more sensible to play that game on Friday night, as a lead-in to the Everton event rather than as a Saturday night add-on. More people would have seen it and the French clubs would have been centre stage.

10 A long wait in the car park after the game. Several people commented to me that cars had to wait for around 40 minutes until the majority of fans had departed on foot before they were able to exit the car parks. It was quite a frustrating experience.