NRL is no.1 code in part of country with over 50% of population.
But in the other 50% of the nation it hardly exists whereas the AFL has penetrated the northern states way better and are growing their base year on year!
If RL is such a great game how come they don't have another team in Melbourne a city of over 5 Million and a team in Adelaide and Perth and play six matches in Tassie?
How many players has RL recruited from Melbourne,Adelaide,Tasmania and Perth esp Melbourne where the have had a very high profile successful team for over 20 years and one that was flogged to death by News corp when they owned the Storm?
And of course the AFL is significantly more popular / dominant in it's heartland states and territories than the NRL is in its.
The google trends demonstrates that, since the restart, the AFL has had more than half again, more interest than the NRL
The relativities in each of the states and territories are (AFL first)
SA: 95 -5
TAS: 93 -7
WA: 93 - 7
Vic: 92 - 8
NT: 74 - 26
ACT: 43 -57
QLD: 37 - 63
NSW: 23 - 77