If you ever needed proof on-field success puts backsides on seats, look no further than NRL table-toppers Canterbury, whose average crowd has soared this season.
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The Canterbury Bulldogs are on track to become the best supported NRL club in Sydney – and possibly Australia, with officials setting the ambitious target of attracting 30,000 fans to every home game, starting with Friday’s heavyweight battle against the Sydney Roosters.
The NRL ladder leaders are proof that on-field success has a direct influence on crowds – the Bulldogs’ flying start to 2025 has seen their average attendance surge to a staggering 35,700.
The 65,503 fans who attended the
Good Friday clash against South Sydney helped inflate that figure. But it is still a remarkable increase on the Dogs’ average home crowd of 20,848 last year, and continues an upward trend for the club after it posted an average of 16,243 in 2023 and 13,447 in 2022.
The Sydney clubs are well behind when it comes to game-day attendance, with the Roosters second on the leaderboard with an average crowd of 29,416, boosted by the Anzac Day fixture against St George Illawarra. Then come the Panthers (26,636), Wests Tigers (23,355) – the premiers and Tigers hosted games at Magic Round, while the Panthers also counted Las Vegas – Cronulla (19,123) and Souths (17,195).
Michael Maguire’s Brisbane Broncos remain the biggest drawcard with an average home attendance this season of 41,844 fans, but it is not inconceivable that they could be overtaken by the Bulldogs should Cameron Ciraldo’s men continue their premiership charge – especially with a number of blockbusters on the fixture list in the coming months.
Dogs CEO Aaron Warburton wants to see his club’s average attendance get closer to 40,000, with over 60,000 fans expected for the June long weekend game against Parramatta, the anticipated sellout for the round-21 clash against Manly at Allianz Stadium, and a crowd of more than 50,000 within reach for the round-23 game against the high-flying Warriors.
“It’s certainly our goal to become the biggest club in terms of attendance – it’s always been in us, we just needed to get back to acting like Canterbury before it could come to fruition,” Warburton said.
“We want 30,000 fans at every home game to become the new norm – there’s no reason we can’t do it. You might not know this, but the club retired the No.18 jersey because we consider our fans as our 18th members of the squad. It’s been that way since 2007.
“They’ve kept turning up during the tougher times. It’s nice we can repay them with some good football.
“We’ve still got some big games at home the rest of the year, including Parramatta and Manly, which will mark 30 years since the 1995 grand final. I’ve also spoken with [Warriors CEO] Cameron George and, given their success, he would love to try and get north of 50,000 fans when we play them here on August 9.”
Canterbury have only hosted three games this year, and could have posted a higher average had they not played their first game at their spiritual home in Belmore, which featured
wild post-match scenes involving DJs playing impromptu sets on top of shopping trolleys in the back streets, but was also restricted to 17,892 people.
The Bulldogs will celebrate 90 years in existence on Friday, with ten former captains – George Peponis, Chris Anderson, Peter Tunks, Terry Lamb, Simon Gillies, Dean Britt, Steve Price, Mick Ennis, James Graham, Josh Jackson and Andrew Ryan – to take the field before kick-off.
The Dogs and Dragons will on Wednesday be confirmed for next year’s Las Vegas season opener, with the clubs to enter a price-sharing agreement that will see them split the gate takings for the US game and the return leg in Sydney.
Meanwhile, the NRL has informed Canberra that Tom Starling should have been awarded a try, rather than called held by Daniel Suluka-Fifita, and forced to play the ball again during the first half of Saturday’s epic against the Dogs.
The decision had no bearing on the final result, with
Canterbury roaring back from 20-0 down at half-time to win 32-20.
