Throw the coaching books out the window, forget about sitting down and trying to methodically work out your tips for each weekend, because it looks as though it is all just a complete waste of time. Magic Round didn’t provide a lot of what people might consider Magic, but it did provide some surprise results and matches that will have a far greater consequence on the outcome of the 2022 season than just picking up the two points.

On today’s episode we will once again try and work out what happens from week to week in this competition, where teams seem to be on fire one week and decimated the next, while teams that are all but dead and buried find a way to rise from the grave. Today’s Talking Point can really only be on the continuing tragedy that is the coaching career of Trent Barrett, and we try and see if there is any future for him down the track in the head coaching role. And just for fun, we’ll throw form out the window and have a bit of a flutter on some unlikely results as we try and tip some winners for next weekend in a competition that is as beguiling as it has ever been.

All of that coming up on today’s edition of “In League With the NRL”, on the podcast that has lasted longer than any Trent Barrett coaching appointment, “Thoughts from the Metal Cavern”.