There weren't that many people sitting at the northern/southern ends of the ground
This year should easily beat the total average record especially with the excellent prospects for Bulldogs and Souths in the preliminary finals and a possible 50k in Week 1.
2005 finals series was dragged down by 16k for North QLD v Melbourne in Sydney, only 25k for Brisbane v Melbourne, and 20k for two all Sydney first week finals that could probably have got 30-40k at the bigger stadium.
http://www.nrl.com/nrl-sets-new-crowd-record/tabid/10874/newsid/69667/default.aspx
NRL has set a new crowd record!!!
2005 finals series was dragged down by 16k for North QLD v Melbourne in Sydney, only 25k for Brisbane v Melbourne, and 20k for two all Sydney first week finals that could probably have got 30-40k at the bigger stadium.
Red herring - remind me why Cowboys/Storm played their final in Sydney? I don't remember...