Why doesn't the AFL finally put the NRL back into its place?!

[PhatBoy]

I think it's a misinterpretation of the goal of expansion clubs, though.

Yes, the actual squad of players want to win stuff - but the point of having expansion sides is always to expand your reach, influence, and customer pool. On that note, despite being utter shit for their first decade, the Brisbane Bears/Lions flog the crap out of the Storm.

Even when they're winning, the Storm are very much still a bit of a niche thing around Melbourne. There aren't many grassroots rugby fields and teams, either. Going around Brisbane, people are wearing Lions gear (especially the kids), AusKick is a massive program, pubs show the AFL. Even in a city half the size, Lions attendances massively outgun the Storm as well.

Swans attendances massively outgun all the Sydney clubs too with the occasional exception of when the Bulldogs are up and about and have a public holiday game, or the Roosters public holiday games against the Dragons, and the Roosters-Souths derby games. At some point people will understand that attendances by and large will always dwarf rugby league attendances no matter what. The grounds are and more or less always have been bigger, and so have the crowds. League has never ever even at its absolutely peak, been a game that routinely draws huge crowds

 

[Xtreme]

This is a joke, right?!

Nope, I'm serious

I'd only be joking if I said the A-League or Big Bash!

 

[2 eazy]

Having moved from Melbourne to Brisbane, I can tell you that there is a hell of a lot more AFL chatter and participation up here than there is League participation and chatter down south.

Understand afl grand final was afternoon but higher percentage of Melbourne saw nrl gf compared to Brisbane watching afl gf.

 

[Hoops]

Rugby League is the most popular code in the most populated and third most populated states. Deal with it.

When will they deal with Aussie Rules being the number one sport in Australia

 

[Norwegian Blue]

When will they deal with Aussie Rules being the number one sport in Australia

By some metrics, RL is bigger: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nr...l-sets-tv-ratings-record-20251006-p5n0dc.html

The NRL and Channel Nine are celebrating the best television ratings in the history of the sport, with the Broncos-Storm grand final attracting a record audience of 4.46 million viewers.

The NRL grand final smashed the television viewing numbers of the AFL, with an average of 4.18 million viewers tuning in to watch the Brisbane Lions topple Geelong to win the flag a week earlier.

 

[iameviljez]

Understand afl grand final was afternoon but higher percentage of Melbourne saw nrl gf compared to Brisbane watching afl gf.

It's not really a comparison when one is in absolute prime time and the other is on Saturday afternoon, though.

 

[PhatBoy]

It's not really a comparison when one is in absolute prime time and the other is on Saturday afternoon, though.

Whose fault is that?

That’s like saying ‘which movie was more popular, Movie A or Movie B?’

‘Well Movie B would have been if it was released during the summer school holidays. So Movie B.’

 

[Football Tragic]

By some metrics, RL is bigger: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nr...l-sets-tv-ratings-record-20251006-p5n0dc.html

Using the 'New Rating System' which was brought in when the AFL began to pull away from the NRL significantly. The ratings does not take into account the amount of people watching but more the amount watching at one time. Because the NRL has a significantly shorter game with less breaks, this favours them. Does it favour the sponsors/Advertisers though? No - which is why the AFL hold a markedly higher TV Rights than the NRL.

The the fact that the NRL are allowed to use these 'Average Ratings' is a sham and doesn't mirror each leagues ratings value.

 

[Football Tragic]

NRL is easily the premier sport.
Better spectacle,
better grand final,
better themed rounds (AFLs versions are like Emma Memma quality)
Better and more highly skilled womens league
Better state of origin concept and execution

The Dillon needs to reinvent the wheel, hiring Snoop Dogg wasn't it.

Nope, I'm serious

I'd only be joking if I said the A-League or Big Bash!

I'll bite -

Premier Sport - what do you measure this statement on?

Spectacle - more people attend AFL Games and have memberships

Grand Final - the AFL could sell out their game 5 times over while the NRL struggle to fill their stadium. The AFL have out rating the NRL nine time out of the last ten years. It took the NRL having a Melbourne and Brisbane team playing, at night, on a sports free weekend, for them to finally get greater ratings - using a biased rating system at that!

Themed Rounds - the NRL have copied the AFLs concept of Themed rounds. Recently the AFL copied the idea of a gather round but every other theme came from the AFL first including Indigenous Round and ANZAC Day. Their idea of Opening the season in Vegas is a laughable sham that will do nothing to gain them relevance in the US.

Women's League - another concept the NRL scrambled to copy.

Origin - Another concept stolen from the AFL. The fact that it is such a huge concept for the NRL should be a real worry. It highlights that the Code is still a two state sport. This is why the AFl moved on from Origin decades ago because we are an AUstralian Game.

 

[Football Tragic]

Whose fault is that?

That’s like saying ‘which movie was more popular, Movie A or Movie B?’

‘Well Movie B would have been if it was released during the summer school holidays. So Movie B.’

Except every single time the AFL puts up its larger games at the same time as the NRL, the AFL outrates them - ie the two finals series.

 

[Philhawk]

The startlingly dismissive superiority complex displayed in this thread is why the NRL keeps going from strength to strength while the AFL squanders its lead.

 

[PhatBoy]

I'll bite -

Premier Sport - what do you measure this statement on?

Spectacle - more people attend AFL Games and have memberships

Grand Final - the AFL could sell out their game 5 times over while the NRL struggle to fill their stadium. The AFL have out rating the NRL nine time out of the last ten years. It took the NRL having a Melbourne and Brisbane team playing, at night, on a sports free weekend, for them to finally get greater ratings - using a biased rating system at that!

Themed Rounds - the NRL have copied the AFLs concept of Themed rounds. Recently the AFL copied the idea of a gather round but every other theme came from the AFL first including Indigenous Round and ANZAC Day. Their idea of Opening the season in Vegas is a laughable sham that will do nothing to gain them relevance in the US.

Women's League - another concept the NRL scrambled to copy.

Origin - Another concept stolen from the AFL. The fact that it is such a huge concept for the NRL should be a real worry. It highlights that the Code is still a two state sport. This is why the AFl moved on from Origin decades ago because we are an AUstralian Game.

How does any of those determine what the ‘better’ game is?



Using this logic Taylor Swift is a better musician than Tommy Emmanuel

I don’t side one way or the other. I think they’re both great sports and couldn’t choose one over the other as a ‘better’ game. Why would crowd sizes determine what’s ‘better’ though?

I think NFL is a dogshit game and soccer if it was a person? I wouldn’t piss on it if it was on fire. And I PLAYED soccer (only as a last resort mind you after concussion meant I couldn’t keep playing league - ironic given what they’re saying about heading the ball). But think about how many people attend those games. Who cares. To me it doesn’t give them any merit as sports.

 

[PhatBoy]

Except every single time the AFL puts up its larger games at the same time as the NRL, the AFL outrates them - ie the two finals series.

So? They didn’t in this case so what does it matter.

 

[iameviljez]

Whose fault is that?

That’s like saying ‘which movie was more popular, Movie A or Movie B?’

‘Well Movie B would have been if it was released during the summer school holidays. So Movie B.’

Yeah, but we're talking about Australian Rules and NRL and their reach into the other's home base, not just the TV audiences for the two separate GFs. That's only one marker.

 

[Gough]

Yeah, but we're talking about Australian Rules and NRL and their reach into the other's home base, not just the TV audiences for the two separate GFs. That's only one marker.

You left out the really important one, gambling revenue.

 

[Hoops]

The startlingly dismissive superiority complex displayed in this thread is why the NRL keeps going from strength to strength while the AFL squanders its lead.

Really? So a few punters on BigFooty keep the sport from reaching it's full potential. Shame on us!

 

[Football Tragic]

How does any of those determine what the ‘better’ game is?



Using this logic Taylor Swift is a better musician than Tommy Emmanuel

I don’t side one way or the other. I think they’re both great sports and couldn’t choose one over the other as a ‘better’ game. Why would crowd sizes determine what’s ‘better’ though?

I think NFL is a dogshit game and soccer if it was a person? I wouldn’t piss on it if it was on fire. And I PLAYED soccer (only as a last resort mind you after concussion meant I couldn’t keep playing league - ironic given what they’re saying about heading the ball). But think about how many people attend those games. Who cares. To me it doesn’t give them any merit as sports.

Attendance and Membership equate to genuine interest and pumps massive amounts of money into clubs, venues, sponsors, local business etc. It's in infinitely more important than ratings which only goes to the Governing Body of the Code.

Attendance also shows passion rather than fleeting interest. This, and participation numbers, are a far greater indicator of the health of a sport than ratings alone which is why Soccer and Basketball are still reliant and health sports in Australia despite their flailing top tier competitions. The AFL is not just a tv sports, it is a live sport and tv sport which is another reason is dwarfs every other sport this country

 

[Angus Young]

Putting the NRL Grand Final on at night and at prime time makes the NRL smart.
Why the fk does anyone think they put it on at that time?
(If the NRL Grand Final was at 2pm on a Saturday and AFL 7pm on a Sunday night. The ratings wouldn't even be close to close).

Using gambling money makes the NRL smart.

 

[PhatBoy]

Attendance and Membership equate to genuine interest and pumps massive amounts of money into clubs, venues, sponsors, local business etc. It's in infinitely more important than ratings which only goes to the Governing Body of the Code.

Attendance also shows passion rather than fleeting interest. This, and participation numbers, are a far greater indicator of the health of a sport than ratings alone which is why Soccer and Basketball are still reliant and health sports in Australia despite their flailing top tier competitions. The AFL is not just a tv sports, it is a live sport and tv sport which is another reason is dwarfs every other sport this country

None of what you said answers anything about what makes either game better.

I’ll ask again. What about you just said makes the game better just because more people like it.

Darts is an incredible live event to watch that attracts thousands upon thousands of people to every event it stages. I’ve been to the world matchplay and it’s one of the most amazing ‘experiences’ of my life.

At the end of the day, it’s still just two fat blokes throwing tiny arrows.

 

[Dazb86]

Just needs a -1 Round to atart the year and theuve done it

 

[Carn The Berries]

Few things more boring than code wars

It’s only on the agenda because Peter V’landys has the greatest inferiority complex of any human on the planet and cannot get past it.

Both sports are fine

You can enjoy either or god forbid, both.

You can’t get rid of a sport anyway, if people want to watch or play it they will.

Cannot like this enough.

Poor old Pete is eternally stuck in a dick measuring contest. The only problem is nobody is measuring up against him.

It started with racing, hence why we have the Everest.

He can spout whatever he wants to make himself feel better. I suspect the powers at AFL HQ couldn't give a flying f***

 

[Carn The Berries]

Why is it that the Federal Government can fund a NRL team in another country yet can't help fund a stadium in Tasmania?

Because we don't need Tasmania as a strategic Pacific ally

 

[lalorGOAT]

Nope, I'm serious

I'd only be joking if I said the A-League or Big Bash!

They just barge into other all game.

 

[iameviljez]

Cannot like this enough.

Poor old Pete is eternally stuck in a dick measuring contest. The only problem is nobody is measuring up against him.

In all honesty, I think this NRL vs AFL tribalism is largely being left in the past, where it belongs. Besides, with so much interstate mobility now, there's much more cross-pollenation of the two.

It's like Ford and Holden - it mattered when it was the only game in town, but nowadays young people have so many options across the world for great sport, and a binary rivalry seems redundant.

 

[PhatBoy]

They just barge into other all game.

Which in itself is absolutely spectacular when it’s done full tilt.

I love seeing a bloke pick up a loose ball at high speed, take a quick bounce and then deliver a tracer bullet to a forward on the lead as much as anyone. It’s one of the greatest sights in Australian sport.
As a Cats fan, I think one of the most underappreciated parts of AFL footy for the last 10 years or so has been watching Tom Stewart kick out of defence with these precise 45m kicks just over the head of pressing forwards to an outlet player to kickstart an attacking chain. It’s nerveless, amazingly skillful football. I absolutely love it.

Equally I love watching Patrick Dangerfield see a quarter of the football at the bottom of a confused group of players from 10 metres away, and say ‘that’s mine.’ He lines it up, takes aim at it, and it does not matter who or what is in his way, he charges in and gets it, knocks over everyone and away he goes before anyone knows what’s happened. Often he’ll turn it over. But I don’t care because of how spectacular it was to watch him get it in the first place.

In the same way, I’ve spent most of the last 15 years watching my league team play on the back of a gentle New Zealander with a humble background who turns into an animal on the field who has been suspended for a total number of games that adds up to more than an entire season. He plays the toughest position on the field (front row) and when our team can’t get the ball out of our own end of the ground, and the biggest defenders are smashing us in tackles and he is out of breath from tackling himself, he puts his hand up, gets as angry as he can, picks out the biggest member of the opposition team and runs as hard and straight at him as he can and tries to flatten him and gets us out of trouble.

That’s one thing I love about the game.

At his peak the Cowboys had a guy called Jason Taumololo who could play 80 minutes but happened to be built like a tank - rare these days given how fast the game is. He could also pass well. Rarer still for a big man. He could pass left and right - rarer still (most players have a dominant passing side).

It was like having an all rounder in cricket who could smash through the opposition like bowling pins and then send a pass to a player in space. He once made a run about 40 metres downfield like you might expect to see from an outside back - someone of high pace - looked to his right, and threw a 25 metre spiral pass to hit a supporting teammate on the chest. In other words he had to throw the pass to where the teammate was going to be, while running at full tilt, but make sure it still went backwards, left-to-right, his non dominant side, with a defender coming at him.

It’s that sort of thing that I think people who don’t watch it maybe don’t appreciate. You don’t have to like it. Hell I don’t like soccer as I said but I do understand that more goes into it than just kicking the ball from one end to the other.