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Across the inaugural Magic Round a number of teams picked up knocks to key players.
Jack Bird, Jordan Rapana and Latrell Mitchell headlined the players who suffered blows, but in total 19 picked up knocks varying from concussion to ligament damage over the weekend.
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Despite images showing the pitch to be in a patchy state by the end of Day Four, coaches and players were largely united in their support for the condition of the playing surface.
“It was all right, yeah,” Canberra captain Josh Hodgson said, despite his side losing star wing Rapana to a suspected knee injury.
“You could obviously tell there had been a few games on there but it was all right. I had no problems with the surface, I thought it was pretty good. [Magic Round] was obviously going to take its toll on it, but the surface was fine.
“We’ve done the Magic Round in England and the conditions are worse over there in terms of the rain and the ground. It’s all down to the groundsmen and how much they can look after it on the night. They did a good job from the game yesterday to what it was like today. It’s never going to be perfect but I was happy with it.”
It was a view shared by South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett.
Bennett, whose side was last to play in the Magic Round, said: “I talked to the groundsman when I got here, I talked to him, I know him personally, but he was confident in the ground. He said it had dried up a little bit, the green tinge had gone. But he said underneath it was really firm. And players came in at halftime and said it was great. “So, it was a 10 out of 10.”
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