Here's a quick comparison, where I looked at the week surrounding origin 1 here:
http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/05/week-22-2.html
I think I've got this right (correct me if i'm wrong)...but there were more people watching Origin 1 in Melbourne, than watched Carlton vs Hawthorn on Sunday afternoon:
1 State Of Origin Rugby League NSW V Qld 1st Match Nine 2,455,000 1,179,000
328,000 824,000 62,000 62,000
Actually it's more than Hey Hey rated last night:
16 Total People Network 9 HEY HEY IT'S SATURDAY 801,000 231,000
314,000 125,000 74,000 58,000
Ratings for Origin Game 2 were somewhat lower though:
1 Total People Network 9 STATE OF ORIGIN RUGBY LEAGUE NSW V QLD 2ND - MATCH 2,156,000 946,000
271,000 849,000 50,000 40,000
Plus look at the massive switch off for the 30 min pre-match fluff between 7.30pm and 8.00pm. Almost half of the audience watching Two and a Half Men switched off when the Origin coverage started. This is the sort of thing network execs look at.
11 Total People Network 9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT 1,100,000 335,000
344,000 230,000 82,000 108,000
5 Total People Network 9 STATE OF ORIGIN RUGBY LEAGUE NSW V QLD 2ND - PRE MATCH 1,417,000 647,000
187,000 584,000 0 0
I think the reason Nine aren't showing Origin 3 live in Melbourne is due to the fact its a dead rubber, very few Victorians care about the result, and it would definitely rate lower than Game 2. If it was the deciding match it would definitely be on live.
RL fans should be lobbying the Government to hurry up and fix the anti-siphoning laws, then they could show all Origins as well as every Friday Night NRL Game live on GO! or another 9 subchannel into Melbourne.