Dave Craven: Weekend shake-up whets the appetite for Manchester

There was some grumblings from certain quarters when a slightly rejigged Magic Weekend fixture list was announced last November.

Losing the Leeds Rhinos v Bradford Bulls derby was not too major a concern as most readily accepted that once gargantuan fixture was not generally the epic tussle of yesteryear.

However, sacrificing the traditional – well, as traditional as you can get with a six-year-old entity – Wigan v St Helens derby was a little more biting.

Only once, in 2010, have these giants not featured against each other on Magic Weekend and, so, with so many regular dull fixtures incorporating London, Salford and Catalan, question marks were raised about the validity of splitting them up.

The reason for doing so was to try and increase the number of high quality matches over the two days and you could see the thinking behind it as Leeds, the reigning champions, were instead pitted with Wigan.

That freed up Saints to take part in another of their traditional battles with Warrington who, previously, had been lumbered in mismatches with Salford and Hull KR among others.

It clearly offered more potential for a high-octane contest and, as we approach the start of the action tomorrow, everything has indeed fallen into place perfectly.

If we fast forward to the end of the weekend you expect nothing other than a classic when Leeds, in such blistering form until this last fortnight, bring a curtain down on it all against Wigan on Sunday evening.

There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded Rhino and so, having endured the disappointment of being dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Huddersfield and then stunned at home to Saints, you sense they will be steeled for a vintage display. Leaders Wigan, of course, are the razor-sharp side in the land as they look to extend their winning record to a staggering 11 consecutive matches and, with so much niggle between the rivals in recent years, there is scope for one of those enthralling contests that truly sells the game.

That is, after all, the whole point of the Magic concept and the other fixtures have generated some highly-anticipated pairings.

Some still expect high-flying Huddersfield to splutter so what price on Sunday them doing so against Bulls who defeated them so emphatically in early March and overcame their own blip with last week’s timely win at Salford?

The inimitable Hull derby, which any fan from that city will tell you is the only true Super League derby, needs no fanfare yet promises plenty of intrigue too with Gareth Ellis finally getting chance to lock horns with the Robins.

That game is preceded tomorrow by a West Yorkshire derby between Castleford and Wakefield Trinity which is also hugely consequential for both.

Castleford, with Daryl Powell taking charge for the first time on English soil, know a win would keep alive their hopes of pulling away from the bottom and potentially even pushing towards the play-offs but anything else will see their season over.

Wakefield, to a lesser degree, are in a similar situation so they will hope Tim Smith can reproduce last year’s magic.

Warrington v St Helens rounds off the first day and has plenty of its own subplots.

Adrian Morley’s return from injury will be a pleasure to witness – more so Catalan’s Scott Dureau against London after his cancer scare – while can Saints crucially build on Monday’s stunning win at Headingley?

They were facing a sixth successive loss for the first time since 1979 before completing a remarkable comeback against the champions which was so invigorating many feel it could turn their season completely.

Challenge Cup holders Warrington, though, are seething with themselves for their own home defeat against Hull FC and will be wary of falling any further behind Wigan.