AFL overtaking NRL in QLD

[RedV3x]

Walk the streets, go into almost any pub on a weekend and it is clear how far in front NRL

Don't walk the streets and don't go into almost any pub on a weekend and it is a different story.
Anecdotal stories are not evidence and just reflect the circle you move in.

If you look at attendances and participation etc then it's a different story.

 

[Cmarsh]

Apparently a new 60k stadium at Victoria Park in Brisbane is about to get the tick.

That would be a win for the Lions I think.

 

[Cmarsh]

Apparently a new 60k stadium at Victoria Park in Brisbane is about to get the tick.

That would be a win for the Lions I think.

Confirmed.

See all the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games venues announced so far

The Queensland state government has announced its plans for the 2032 Olympics, offering a first clear insight into the stadiums and venues to be featured during the Games.

www.abc.net.au

"The headliner of the government's announcement was a new 63,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park on the north side of the Brisbane CBD. Will become a new home for AFL and cricket after the Games."

 

[Coconut_twirl]

Not sure what you are saying? That each objective assessment gives a different result?
Walk the streets, go into almost any pub on a weekend and it is clear how far in front NRL is. Tv ratings icon firm that.
Go do a survey of random Queenslanders. What percentage do you reckon would say they prefer rugby league?
I work for a Queensland based company, and from that any my travels there, it would still be 80/20 in favour of NRL overall across the whole state.
I reckon
Brisbane 80/20
GC 55/45
Townsville/Mackay/Rockhampton 90/10
Cairns 80/20
Port Douglas is about 50/50. Possibly even pro AFL. Full of Victorians.

I would have thought Cairns would have stronger AFL support than Brisbane? 80/20 a bit low for Cairns? I was under the impression there was a decent following there.

 

[Walshawk]

I would have thought Cairns would have stronger AFL support than Brisbane? 80/20 a bit low for Cairns? While living in QLD, the others you have listed seem a fair assessment.

Have you spent much time in Cairns? Very pro-NRL.

 

[Professor Knowall]

Have you spent much time in Cairns? Very pro-NRL.

I’ve spent loads and loads of time in Cairns - and also out in the surrounding hinterland. If Cairns is ‘very pro-NRL’, then it’s even more so ‘very pro AFL’.

I’ve posted on this before - in FNQ, one has to distinguish between Cairns itself and the old agricultural towns in the hinterland (especially the sugar milling towns like Mossman). In the Cairns metro area, Australian Football has more participants - especially many more juniors - it has more money and owns outright its own stadium - Cazalys. It also is the main game along the coastal strip from Port Douglas in the north to Gordonvale in the south.

However, in the old agricultural towns, which haven’t had anything like the population growth of the coast, the locals have stuck to what they know - NRL rugby - in places like Mossman, Mareeba, Atherton etc. But make no mistake about it - the Australian game is absolutely well entrenched and thriving, with a very strong following, in Cairns itself and the growing population areas along the coast.

On Cazalys Stadium -

Cazalys Stadium | AFL Cairns

aflcairns.com.au

 

[GC2015]

Looks like things are starting to change on the Gold Coast if yesterday is anything to go by. The Suns v Crows game traditionally drew low crowds (average 12k) on the GC and 16k showed up to the top 4 clash yesterday in stinking hot conditions with a midday start. Meanwhile the 5th placed Titans also played on the Gold Coast yesterday and faced fellow Queensland team the 15th placed Dolphins, who average crowds between 20-30k an hour away at Suncorp Stadium, and their 4:30pm clash on the GC only pulled a crowd of 13k yesterday.

 

[Coconut_twirl]

Looks like things are starting to change on the Gold Coast if yesterday is anything to go by. The Suns v Crows game traditionally drew low crowds (average 12k) on the GC and 16k showed up to the top 4 clash yesterday in stinking hot conditions with a midday start. Meanwhile the 5th placed Titans also played on the Gold Coast yesterday and faced fellow Queensland team the 15th placed Dolphins, who average crowds between 20-30k an hour away at Suncorp Stadium, and their 4:30pm clash on the GC only pulled a crowd of 13k yesterday.

First time the Suns are really going to experience sustained on-field success and look not just a finals team, but a real threat. That should change the outlook of the crowds.

Previous years, the Suns may not have won that game yesterday imo. Looking very professional under Hardwick. Not to mention the quality of the list.

 

[GC2015]

First time the Suns are really going to experience sustained on-field success and look not just a finals team, but a real threat. That should change the outlook of the crowds.

Previous years, the Suns may not have won that game yesterday imo. Looking very professional under Hardwick. Not to mention the quality of the list.

The exciting part from our perspective is we've never played finals and that suggests there's A LOT of room for growth. We've essentially been performing at our baseline for close to a decade and the numbers are still comparable to the Titans (who have played finals multiple times in the last decade). It's not unreasonable to suggest we could create some distance on the Titans over the next few years if we do live up to the hype and start playing finals.

It's also a perfect storm situation for us with the much talked about 'generational change' is entering a phase where the kids who are draft eligible now wouldn't remember a time without the Suns in the AFL. We're seeing lifelong Suns fans coming through now and that's making a difference as well. I know lots of people have criticised the northern academies for a multitude of reasons, but one really important aspect of the academies is its ability to grow the fanbase in an emerging market with the younger generation.

Most of these Gold Coast kids won't get drafted but once they are added to the academy program, regardless of whether they come from a footy background or not (most don't come from a footy background), they will either adopt the Suns as their AFL team or follow them closely as their second team. It's a huge conversion tool for the Suns/AFL in terms of growing the game/fanbase with the younger generation. You can already see our crowds are growing against teams that don't typically pull a big crowd here (like the Crows) and I expect that continue as we win more games going into the future. Wouldn't be surprised to see our next home game against the Swans pull close to 20k if we keep winning the games in between.

Exciting times ahead and the Gold Coast is genuinely up for grabs if the AFL is willing to stay the course.

 

[GenericUsername202]

As someone who lives in Brisbane, the NRL support isn't 80/20. That's completely laughable. It's more like 65/35, which goes to 60/40 depending on club form. I also visit Cairns and GC a lot, and both of those cities have a strong AFL presence as well. Cairns surprised me as a lot of bars and clubs would have huge TV screens for AFL and NRL. I would rarely run into a bar that only showed one sport.

 

[GC2015]

Jonathan Brown made a big call on Fox Footy last night by stating the AFL would receive more media coverage up here than the NRL this week due to the upcoming top 4 QClash. I think the Brisbane media will certainly be focusing more on Magic Round this week and the Lions/QClash won't get as much coverage as they probably should in Brisbane, but I do think the Gold Coast media will cover the Suns more than the Titans/NRL this week. So he's partially right in that the headlines on the GC will be more AFL than NRL, but to suggest the Lions/QClash will get more coverage than Magic Round with the Brisbane media is misleading IMO. Although Browny lives on the GC so he might be a little misled in that regard.

This is a good example of the difference in media coverage between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The Brisbane media will always favour NRL, particularly in the week leading up to Magic Round, whereas the Gold Coast media is far closer to a 50:50 split in terms of coverage between the two sports and usually favours the team that's performing better, which is the Suns in this case.

 

[Bjo187]

Jonathan Brown made a big call on Fox Footy last night by stating the AFL would receive more media coverage up here than the NRL this week due to the upcoming top 4 QClash. I think the Brisbane media will certainly be focusing more on Magic Round this week and the Lions/QClash won't get as much coverage as they probably should in Brisbane, but I do think the Gold Coast media will cover the Suns more than the Titans/NRL this week. So he's partially right in that the headlines on the GC will be more AFL than NRL, but to suggest the Lions/QClash will get more coverage than Magic Round with the Brisbane media is misleading IMO. Although Browny lives on the GC so he might be a little misled in that regard.

This is a good example of the difference in media coverage between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The Brisbane media will always favour NRL, particularly in the week leading up to Magic Round, whereas the Gold Coast media is far closer to a 50:50 split in terms of coverage between the two sports and usually favours the team that's performing better, which is the Suns in this case.

It's really disappointing the Q clash isn't on 7 main on Sunday night in QLD. If the AFL had a decent CEO with some initiative, he'd be on the phone to ch7 demanding it be on the main channel being a top 4 clash.

It would be great promotion for the game and make the general public realise both teams are top 4. In saying all this, suns have a bit of a little brother concept to get over against the lions, so it will be a big test if they can be competitive or not despite their form elsewhere.

 

[GenericUsername202]

Jonathan Brown made a big call on Fox Footy last night by stating the AFL would receive more media coverage up here than the NRL this week due to the upcoming top 4 QClash. I think the Brisbane media will certainly be focusing more on Magic Round this week and the Lions/QClash won't get as much coverage as they probably should in Brisbane, but I do think the Gold Coast media will cover the Suns more than the Titans/NRL this week. So he's partially right in that the headlines on the GC will be more AFL than NRL, but to suggest the Lions/QClash will get more coverage than Magic Round with the Brisbane media is misleading IMO. Although Browny lives on the GC so he might be a little misled in that regard.

This is a good example of the difference in media coverage between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The Brisbane media will always favour NRL, particularly in the week leading up to Magic Round, whereas the Gold Coast media is far closer to a 50:50 split in terms of coverage between the two sports and usually favours the team that's performing better, which is the Suns in this case.

It's the magic round. I mean, come on. I blame the league for scheduling the Q-clash during this round to begin with. Although, it'll be another sell out, so it's not really that big of a deal.

 

[dave10]

Jonathan Brown made a big call on Fox Footy last night by stating the AFL would receive more media coverage up here than the NRL this week due to the upcoming top 4 QClash. I think the Brisbane media will certainly be focusing more on Magic Round this week and the Lions/QClash won't get as much coverage as they probably should in Brisbane, but I do think the Gold Coast media will cover the Suns more than the Titans/NRL this week. So he's partially right in that the headlines on the GC will be more AFL than NRL, but to suggest the Lions/QClash will get more coverage than Magic Round with the Brisbane media is misleading IMO. Although Browny lives on the GC so he might be a little misled in that regard.

This is a good example of the difference in media coverage between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The Brisbane media will always favour NRL, particularly in the week leading up to Magic Round, whereas the Gold Coast media is far closer to a 50:50 split in terms of coverage between the two sports and usually favours the team that's performing better, which is the Suns in this case.

The media will on balance be focussing on the NRL Magic Round however, the Q clash is / will get quite a bit of traction.

 

[Cmarsh]

It's the magic round. I mean, come on. I blame the league for scheduling the Q-clash during this round to begin with. Although, it'll be another sell out, so it's not really that big of a deal.

I think its a good move by the AFL scheduling the q clash on the same weekend as magic round, just after the nrl games have finished or finishing.

The q clash should attract a good crowd, sending a message that RL isn't the only sport in Brisbane as the NRL and some of its followers would prefer to believe.

 

[GenericUsername202]

I think its a good move by the AFL scheduling the q clash on the same weekend as magic round, just after the nrl games have finished or finishing.

The q clash should attract a good crowd, sending a message that RL isn't the only sport in Brisbane as the NRL and some of its followers would prefer to believe.

Q clash definitely will be 30k+ (Like every lions game is these days) The problem is that the magic round is like the gather round, meaning it sucks all the media attention because its such a huge event for Brisbane. So the Q-clash was always going to be in the background of it. Had it been during a regular week, it would have taken a lot more of the media attention.

 

[Chief]

There seem to be two Q-Clash games per year.

I don't know that they are seen as special by most.

Top 4 game might make it more enticing.

 

[Cmarsh]

Q clash definitely will be 30k+ (Like every lions game is these days) The problem is that the magic round is like the gather round, meaning it sucks all the media attention because its such a huge event for Brisbane. So the Q-clash was always going to be in the background of it. Had it been during a regular week, it would have taken a lot more of the media attention.

But despite getting drowned out by the magic round media noise, the q clash will still get a good crowd. Thats significant in itself as it shows an event like the q clash can still attract punters despite what its up against.

 

[qlderlions]

But despite getting drowned out by the magic round media noise, the q clash will still get a good crowd. Thats significant in itself as it shows an event like the q clash can still attract punters despite what its up against.

As of 8pm only 42 tickets left only 10 of those <100 bucks barring any late ticketmaster release /member returns. Predict it will be 33k plus easily better the record from last year of 30k.

 

[Billy ray]

Am i right in that on foxtel/kayo super saturday exclusives, WA gets WAFL free to air, SA get SANFL, Victoria gets VFL but NSW and Qld get not free to air any coverage of second tier footy?

 

[GC2015]

As of 8pm only 42 tickets left only 10 of those <100 bucks barring any late ticketmaster release /member returns. Predict it will be 33k plus easily better the record from last year of 30k.

The Lions announced a sell out this morning.

QClash28 sells out as Brisbane set to rock retro Bears kit

QClash28 at the Gabba is officially a sell out!

www.lions.com.au

 

[Coconut_twirl]

As someone who lives in Brisbane, the NRL support isn't 80/20. That's completely laughable. It's more like 65/35, which goes to 60/40 depending on club form. I also visit Cairns and GC a lot, and both of those cities have a strong AFL presence as well. Cairns surprised me as a lot of bars and clubs would have huge TV screens for AFL and NRL. I would rarely run into a bar that only showed one sport.

Cairns has a decent local league by reports. It has double the amount of local teams to Townsville, even though Cairns has a slightly smaller population than Townsville.

Edit - just had a look. 7 senior teams to Cairns, 5 to Townsville. Still Cairns is the stronger local competition.

 

[Coconut_twirl]

The Lions announced a sell out this morning.

QClash28 sells out as Brisbane set to rock retro Bears kit

QClash28 at the Gabba is officially a sell out!

www.lions.com.au

Yet Ch7 will not show it in the main channel in QLD, even with the Lions winning a flag, and The GC Suns playing quality football and probably relevant for the first time in their playing history.

AFL has a long way to go in QLD. At least Ch7 thinks so.

 

[bobs head soup]

Was listening to radio coverage of the Titans v Storm game yesterday.

Commentators discussing the crowd, estimated the total at 3,000, so laughingly suggested the official figure would be 7,000.

The laughter only got louder when the 'official' figure of 13,000 went up.

Fair to say NRL officials are a bit sensitive on the figures.

 

[Cmarsh]

Not sure if this happened last year, but I note that in the u/18's national championship for girls, Queensland are playing as a seperate team on their own apart from the Allies, who are now only a combined NSW, NT and Tasmania team.

This would surely be a reflection of the reported junior footy growth in Queensland.

Queensland had a win over WA yesterday as well.