BuffaloRules
Coach
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Union in Australia should be a cautionary tale for the NRL in so far as the game shouldn't be complacent. The NRL need to be more bold.
I'm not suggesting that the NRL get complacent, but Union is not really a valid comparison...
I can recall when I was a youngster Union internationals in the early 80's being played in front of 10K crowds at Concord Oval..
Union had a window of prominent public success from about 1984-2006 but this was for the national team only, and never had any real grass roots week in week out following...
Its different to RL that has always been the No 1 code in Sydney for 100 years...
The AFL have needed a lot of things to go right for them this year to get even what I consider a relatively modest amount of publicity versus the NFL semi finals in Sydney... i.e both Sydney teams to finish in Top 4 and play each other week 1 of the finals... doubt they can expect that to happen every year..
Even if the GWS Giants win it this year, there is a chance they might run into a Sharks fairy tale that will suck a lot of oxygen out of their build up and final... I recall that this happened to some extent when the Swans won their first GF in 2005 and ran into a Sydney going crazy over the Wests Tigers exciting finals run and maiden premiership..