Brisbane and Newcastle fans have led the way in the race for tickets to this week's Telstra Premiership Home Finals.
Less than 5,000 regular tickets and a further 2,000 sight restricted seats remain available for Saturday evening's Suncorp Stadium showdown between the Broncos and the Dragons fuelling hopes of a 50,000 crowd by game day. The record for a finals crowd in the NRL (excluding Grand Finals) is 51,627 between St George-Illawarra and Cronulla in 1999.
Given the size of the crowd, patrons are being urged to collect any tickets that have been ordered through Ticketek before match day.
Those yet to buy are strongly encouraged to do so 'on-line' via Ticketek's 'eazyTicket' service allowing patrons to print their own ticket at home.
The Knights have only around 1,000 tickets available for Friday night's Finals opener against the Sea Eagles at Energy Australia Stadium.
Melbourne support is also looking strong on the back of the club snaring the Minor Premiership, Dally M Player of the Year (Cameron Smith), Dally M Coach of the Year (Craig Bellamy), Dally M Hooker of the Year (Cameron Smith) and Dally M Half-Back of the year (Cooper Cronk).
Storm fans have actually purchased tickets at a faster rate than Bulldogs and Canberra fans headed for Telstra Stadium, with more than 11,000 tickets already sold to the Olympic Park match.
"Since Origin came to town we've seen an enormous lift in awareness and that's been demonstrated in a number of different ways, not least of all crowd support," Storm CEO Brian Waldron said today.
"We're certainly a chance of selling out by game day.
"The stadium's current configuration means we can get a maximum of 17,000 fans into Olympic Park and I can guarantee they'll be making plenty of noise.
"There are some really passionate supporters down here."
Bulldogs fans traditionally commit to coming to matches late in the week but club Chief Executive Malcolm Noad says the players are counting on plenty of local support by 8.30pm Saturday night.
"We're certainly expecting to see a rush towards the end of the week and a sizable walk up," Bulldogs CEO Malcolm Noad said
"We believe we have the most passionate support group in the game and we're hoping they show their support on the night.
"At a time when we are carrying a couple of injuries in the club a big home crowd can provide a really important edge in finals football.
"I've certainly got no doubt that by Saturday evening we'll have plenty of blue and white in the stands."
BUY YOUR TICKETS AND GET TO THE GAME ON SATURDAY NIGHT!!!!!!!!
