manicmagpie
A slice of fried gold
37,293 at Perth Stadium to finish off the round.
2019 AFL Crowds & Ratings Thread
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Hawks have way more supporters up in Queensland than the Dees do.
In that respect the crowd today is better than our last home game against the Hawks even though it was a few hundred less
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Still a bit to play out but i think we can safely say that the Friday night match in round 23 will either be Richmond/Brisbane Lions or Collingwood/Essendon. Both matches if results go the right way could have a lot riding on them will have large interest.
manicmagpie
A slice of fried gold
Richmond/Brisbane the likely best game of the round but Richmond play on Sunday in Round 22 and are unlikely to be given Friday night.
MCC estimates for this week
Hawthorn v Collingwood - 65,000
Essendon v Sydney - 50,000
Carlton v Melbourne - 41,000
I really cant see Hawthorn (15th) v Collingwood (2nd) drawing 65,000 although I didnt see Hawthorn v West Coast drawing 30,000 plus so perhaps the talk of Hawthorn's apathetic member base could be the kick up the backside it needs. It is Hawthorn's only prime time home game for the year so the corporate presales from months ago would be quite high.
Evidently the last time Hawthorn (bottom 4) and Collingwood (top 4) played in a mid winter game Friday Night game was round 17 2006 and that game drew 54,306.A 10,000 bump on that game would indicate that the Hawthorn and Collingwood drawing power has noticeably improved over the last 13 years. It's interesting to note that the Hawthorn v West Coast (31,895) drew almost exactly 10,000 more then an almost identical game in 2006 (21,989). Same result too, maybe Hawthorn have some young colts coming through to replace Buddy, Roughie, Mitchell, Lewis, Hodge etc. (optimistic much?)
As for Essendon v Sydney, the last five times they have played in home and away games at the MCG they have drawn 38,496 (2004), 50,324 (1999), 62,866 (1998), 69,237 (1996) and 27,094 (1994) so a 50,000 crowd would be a throwback to the Dons 1990's heyday.
This sort of game would almost certainly draw 38,000 to 42,000 at Docklands so there is a clear 10,000 jump for Essendon home games against Sydney / Brisbane at the MCG
As for Carlton v Melbourne, 41,000 would be a bit of a hit on recent crowds - 44,142 (2018), 47,266 (2017), 46,727 (2017), 40,093 (2016) and 33,962 (2015). Carlton v Melbourne is a bizarre fixture in that it is almost entirely an MCG fixture despite a number of seemingly higher drawing Carlton fixtures being scheduled at Docklands (14 of 15 fixtures have been MCG games)
Hawthorn v Collingwood - 65,000
Essendon v Sydney - 50,000
Carlton v Melbourne - 41,000
I really cant see Hawthorn (15th) v Collingwood (2nd) drawing 65,000 although I didnt see Hawthorn v West Coast drawing 30,000 plus so perhaps the talk of Hawthorn's apathetic member base could be the kick up the backside it needs. It is Hawthorn's only prime time home game for the year so the corporate presales from months ago would be quite high.
Evidently the last time Hawthorn (bottom 4) and Collingwood (top 4) played in a mid winter game Friday Night game was round 17 2006 and that game drew 54,306.A 10,000 bump on that game would indicate that the Hawthorn and Collingwood drawing power has noticeably improved over the last 13 years. It's interesting to note that the Hawthorn v West Coast (31,895) drew almost exactly 10,000 more then an almost identical game in 2006 (21,989). Same result too, maybe Hawthorn have some young colts coming through to replace Buddy, Roughie, Mitchell, Lewis, Hodge etc. (optimistic much?)
As for Essendon v Sydney, the last five times they have played in home and away games at the MCG they have drawn 38,496 (2004), 50,324 (1999), 62,866 (1998), 69,237 (1996) and 27,094 (1994) so a 50,000 crowd would be a throwback to the Dons 1990's heyday.
This sort of game would almost certainly draw 38,000 to 42,000 at Docklands so there is a clear 10,000 jump for Essendon home games against Sydney / Brisbane at the MCG
As for Carlton v Melbourne, 41,000 would be a bit of a hit on recent crowds - 44,142 (2018), 47,266 (2017), 46,727 (2017), 40,093 (2016) and 33,962 (2015). Carlton v Melbourne is a bizarre fixture in that it is almost entirely an MCG fixture despite a number of seemingly higher drawing Carlton fixtures being scheduled at Docklands (14 of 15 fixtures have been MCG games)
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Essendon Vs Sydney given Saturday, earlier timeslot, predicted sunny day, school holidays and the recent goal post incident will see the game reach closer to 60K. All we need is Sheeds to come out and whip Bomber fans into a frenzy. It's already got that vibe.
Bit odd that Brisbane got such a good crowd in the same timeslot you believe is a negative in Melbourne. Only 200 below the previous game which was at 7.30 Saturday night, against a better team with more support in Brisbane.
Perhaps but different markets have different preferences
In Brisbane the Sunday afternoon slot (when I lived up there) was pretty desirable.
From what I gathered the Sunday afternoon timeslot was a traditional rugby league timeslot which attracted much stronger crowds then the Saturday afternoon slot (which is a traditionally strong slot in the Victorian market).
The Saturday afternoon slot was such a problem for the NRL that it was replaced in the early 2000's and hasnt been seen since.
I do think the Sunday afternoon slot is a problem child in Melbourne, the Hawthorn CEO and President both raised it and I guess the numbers don't lie.
We have played 4 MCG games in the 3.20pm Sunday slot and have drawn 65,000 (Richmond), 39,000 (W Bulldogs), 37,000 (North Melbourne) and 14,000 (GWS). Take out the Richmond game and those are below par attendances, my argument is that its the lower drawing, less desirable fixtures that are impacted by scheduling
The other MCG fixtures included Easter Monday (67,000), and two Saturday afternoon games against Melbourne (41,000) and West Coast (32,000). Both fixtures which drew above par. This week Hawthorn v Collingwood (which is 15th v 2nd) is expected to draw 65,000 in the Friday Night slot (also above par given the positioning of both teams on the ladder)
Either the negativity towards Hawthorn's crowds are overstated thanks to the Mother's Day terrible turnout against GWS or scheduling has played some role. I suspect its a combination of the two...
Definitely different preferences in different markets.
Twilight saturday is preferable on gold coast for example
Twilight saturday is preferable on gold coast for example
That being said there is no doubt that Brisbane's crowds are improving.
Interestingly this could be the first season since 2005 that the Lions could outdraw the Broncos (or get very close too) which is pretty remarkable given the Broncos position as the biggest club in the NRL, in rugby league's heartland
Interestingly this could be the first season since 2005 that the Lions could outdraw the Broncos (or get very close too) which is pretty remarkable given the Broncos position as the biggest club in the NRL, in rugby league's heartland
You'd figure the AFL would have learned from this and simply made all of Brisbane's games on a Sunday afternoon if the Broncos weren't playing. And this year, the Broncos are usually in prime time, they've had one home game on a Sunday and perhaps 3 away. But I think this weekend was the first Sunday home game for the Lions all season.
They did all through the 90's. I remember one certain game where the Hawthorn captain took the team to the shade at 3/4 time...
Then when channel 10 picked up the rights they made the Lions the Saturday Night specialists for a few years...
Amazing to think that between 1997-2006 the Lions outdrew the Broncos in Brisbane (admittedly that was largely pre Suncorp redevelopment)
- Nov 21, 2013
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The counter argument to that is the Broncos are having a terrible season and have a terrible coach, plus sports fans in Queensland are known as fair weather supporters. When a Queensland team struggles in any sport fans go AWOL.
The Broncos are still averaging 29 000 this year, we still have some way to go before approaching that figure. Maybe next season.
Agreed.
That said before the Lions went off the cliff around 2010 the Brisbane market was never as strongly Broncos as it is now.
Broncos 1997-2010 v Lions 1997-2010
19,298 v 19,550
20,073 v 16,678
22,763 v 21,890
21,239 v 27,406
19,710 v 27,638
20,131 v 26,895
24,326 v 31,717
28,667 v 33,619
30,331 v 33,267
31,208 v 28,607
32,868 v 28,848
33,426 v 28,182
34,587 v 29,172
35,032 v 29,933
4 premierships for the Broncos, 3 for the Lions
Mind you the Broncos have a much larger stadium that is much better serviced by public transport.
All the Lions need to do is be competitive and with the new Cross River Rail they could well match the Broncos for crowds again
IMO the AFL / NRL gap is greatly over stated in Brisbane at least from a crowd attendance and membership perspective, I'm pretty confident that a competitive Lions would be just as strong in the Brisbane market as the Swans are in Sydney
The Broncos are also backed by New Limited and the Courier Mail which is the only paper in town.
Nonetheless the underlying support for what should be a big AFL club is there
- Nov 21, 2013
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I somehow think that the Broncos will be better next season as well, either through a new coach or the present one gets his act together.
A 2nd Brisbane NRL club could be a problem for the AFL as there are sports people in Brisbane who don't like the Broncos and would support a new local NRL team against them.
Fish where the fish are is the saying
Not sure the AFL competes with the NRL in Brisbane to be honest...
How many non Broncos fans are there in Brisbane that are really not attached to an NRL team? The BRL has been dead for 30 years and the Crushers were an absolute failure when the ARL forced the Crushers to charge patrons for tickets.
Most of the anti Broncos fans have drifted to the Cowboys, the Storm and the Dragons were always a big ticket in Brisbane (much like Collingwood I guess)
The vast majority of AFL supporters in Brisbane I found were ex Victorian's, Tasmanian's and South Australian's plus disaffected rugby union supporters in the GPS private school network. Most of the AFL supporters I found were drawn from the inner eastern and western suburbs (i.e. Morningside, Coorparoo, Indooroopilly, Kenmore etc.) plus the Gold and Sunshine Coasts
The biggest threat to the Lions I think is probably a resurgent Reds and Wallabies but Rugby Australia is broke and pretty much dead?
abcde12345
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Worth mentioning, a reasonable number of people in Broncos gear at the Gabba normally. Surprisingly more crossover than you would expect.
Don't know if I would say the vast majority are ex southerners though. Maybe if you include second/third generation, or if you mean all footy fans up here, not just lions fans. I tend to find most of the ex Victorians are pretty loyal to their teams up here - hence the significant Collingwood/Hawthorn/Essendon support up here.
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Yeah that’s what I meant. 2nd / 3rd generational support (for the code generally) plus a lot of support in areas the afl targeted for bears / lions support in the 1990s (ie western and eastern suburbs)
These are the corridors east and west of the city that have Aussie rules goal posts instead of the rugby posts
Anyway what I was trying to say is that a semi competitive Lions should draw 30,000 averages especially with the cross river rail station next to the Gabba which was always a problem.
Like the Swans the Lions have the potential to be a big club, the Gold Coast it could be argued less so
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