Don't bother arguing with Locky, he is a moron.
The biggest crowds the AFL gets on a consistent basis are games between Melbourne's 4 biggest supported clubs, Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton & Richmond.
The reason Aussie Rules gets bigger crowds than RL consistently? RL is an equally good game to watch live or on tv, Aussie Rules quite simply is a sh*thouse game to watch on tv. Anyone who watches the majority of their games on tv as opposed to attending really is missing out. RL is a game that generally the action follows the ball or near enough to it, in Aussie Rules because of the method in which the ball is disposed (ie Long kicking), you really need to actually be in attendance to take in everything that is happening on the field.
One of RL's biggest strengths is it's campatibility for television, unfortunately at times that will hit the crowd numbers. It's a fact of life & not a bad thing. If RL played most of it's games in boutique stadiums, the majority of the stands would be full, the atmosphere great and no one would care.
I've gotta say, I went to Telstra Dome on Friday night and watch two teams battling it out to keep their finals hopes on track, a genuine, all Melbourne blockbuster (Bulldogs V Saints. The crowd was about 35k. There has been some talk on here lately about the Tigers Souths potential crowd in a few weeks, it will be what? 22-23k? I absoloutely gaurentee you the atmosphere a real boutique RL ground will generate that day will far excede anything that the AFL game on Friday night was able to diss up. & that could be repeated right across the suburban Sydney grounds, Camb, Kogarah, Brookie etc