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But the AFL are established in SEQ and NSW now, Swans and the Lions have their own footing, that isn’t going to change, imagine if the AFL could keep them in the top 4 for 20 years like the NRL have done with the Storm.
Established? You mean they have carved a niche? Sure... that's all they are getting though. They've been stagnate for a couple of decades.
You are talking ifs and buts.
Lions have been stagnant for near on a couple of decades and they deserved to be, when they play finals they have plenty of home town support, compare them to the Storm who haven’t missed finals since 28BC and still can’t get a decent Melbourne following, point is Lions and Swans are doing a hell of a lot better than the Storm.
Out of interest why do you want them to fail?
That’s all fair and good mate but when the fumblers create false metrics including memberships and participation lies to make false claims about becoming number one in a state like Qld then I think we have the right to push back with bold statements based on facts i.e. ratings.
No ifs and buts about the last two years of Lions and Swans stagnation in NSW and QLD
Crowds have also stagnated
Incorrect
AFL? Can't stand the game. Our discussion has nothing to do with what I want though. I'm pointing out that not everything spewed out of AFL house is true and their genius long game isn't so much genius as much as it is luck
Lions TV ratings are still abysmal mate, even for the recent GF appearance.
As has been discussed television ratings aren’t everything, if the roles were reversed and the NRL got the monster crowds and the AFL won the rating you’d likely change your tune, and for the record NRL ratings aren’t what they used to be either, from what I’ve been told anyway.
I'm glad you mentioned the years prior to 1997 as part of the Super League era. People forget that the legal fighting even before the Super League kicked off was impacting the sports scene in NSW and QLD. Every day there were reports in the print and television that helped drive people away.
I was on nrl reddit for a bit it’s a much younger demographic and yeh people didn’t know what super league was and couldn’t believe there were two comps
Even the oldest millennials were only 15 or 16 in 1997. They had barely been following the game for very long so it didn't have the same impact. And now they're the ones taking their kids to games or watching it with them on tv. The level of resentment just isn't there like it once was.
