Warrington coach Tony Smith has said his team will not take bottom club Widnes lightly when they meet at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The Wire will move top of Super League for at least 24 hours if they win. "If you're a little bit off, the underdogs can easily knock you off," Smith told BBC North West Tonight.
"That's the beauty of rugby league. We're pretty good at not falling into that sort of trap so I'd like to think my boys will be ready to go." Current leaders Wigan Warriors, who are a point above Warrington, do not play St Helens until Sunday evening.
Widnes, meanwhile, have won only twice since returning to Super League and Smith can understand their struggles, having been relegated from and promoted back to the top flight during his time in charge of Huddersfield a decade ago.
"When you gain promotion, you don't get a lot of time to prepare and you don't get many advantages over teams that have been established for many years," said Smith. "It's a hard slog and they've found that at times this year. "They're in good form based on last weekend because they ran Catalan right to the wire. Last time we played them, they went 12-0 up on us so we want to start well, otherwise things can go awry for you."
After three held in Cardiff and two in Edinburgh, the sixth annual Magic Weekend will be the first to be held in Manchester. Former England coach Smith added: "The concept has been to travel away for a weekend but it's nice that they've been able to bring it to the heartland and give a lot of supporters to come along and take that opportunity to see all the games if they desire. "Sometimes it's been out of reach for some people and now it's right on their doorstep, so hopefully they'll support it."
Widnes captain Jon Clarke will be happy to upset his neighbours, as well as several close friends, when he goes up against his old club Warrington for the first time in the Magic Weekend on Saturday. The 33-year-old hooker, signed from the Wolves ahead of the Vikings' return to the top flight this year, is looking forward to lining up against his old team-mates, especially after missing the 46-12 Super League derby defeat at Easter through injury.
"I spent 10 years with Warrington so my first match against my old mates will be unusual," he said. "I still live in Warrington and my neighbours are Ben Westwood and Garreth Carvell so it will be weird to play against them. But, as soon as that whistle is blown, they are not my mates for 80 minutes." Prop forward Carvell, who played alongside Clarke in the Warrington front row when they won the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 2010, says he has already started to make life difficult for his neighbour.