All the following teams went backwards just as severely in that time period. Many teams that didn't drop were making rare finals appearences eg. Cronulla.
Brisbane:
1995 - 35,902
1996 - 23,712
1997 - 19,298 (drop over time period -46%, the Reds suffered -34% by comoparison)
Canberra:
1995 - 15,683
1996 - 10,440
1997 - 11,622 (-26%)
Canterbury:
1995 - 11,341
1996 - 7,544
1997 - 8,815 (-22%)
Illawarra:
1995 - 9,651
1996 - 7,434
1997 - 8,695 (-10%)
Manly:
1995 - 14,722
1996 - 12,519
1997 - 11,816 (-20%)
Auckland:
1995 - 26,450
1996 - 20,126
1997 - 15,442 (-42%)
Newcastle: (The freaking premiers still suffered a massive drop.)
1995 - 21,215
1996 - 17,475
1997 - 14,257 (-33%)
North Queensland:
1995 - 21,670
1996 - 19,366
1997 - 17,539 (-19%)
North Sydney: (I've slipped this one in because it's interesting that they still managed to largely hold onto their supporter base)
1995 - 11,514
1996 - 10,963
1997 - 11,713 (+2%)
Penrith:
1995 - 8,022
1996 - 5,351
1997 - 7,673 (-4%)
South Queensland:
1995 - 21,209
1996 - 13,016
1997 - 7,003 (-66%)
South Sydney:
1995 - 7,709
1996 - 5,031
1997 - 5,287 (-31%)
St George:
1995 - 9,074
1996 - 11,167
1997 - 7,222 (-21%)
And you can't use recent ratings to throw in their face. They don't receive regular coverage in Perth so how can they possibly build any sort of viewer base?