AFL & NRL Crowds - 2026

[Beaussie]

Saturday 5 September



Qualifying Final

Sydney Swans vs Brisbane Lions @ Sydney Cricket Ground
Crowd: 37,261


Elimination Final

Adelaide Crows vs Western Bulldogs @ Adelaide Oval
Crowd: 51,370

[leeroy*NRL*]

All eyes are Cronulla Sharks, having a big cry about moving there FINAL to SFS>>
There crowd is going to be hideous

All other games should be sell outs.

AFL has already sold out the SEMI"S

[makingnrlfansgowacko]

helf price chips untill half time of the game. if there is one code that doesnt need overweight fans its the Rugby league

[leeroy*NRL*]

helf price chips untill half time of the game. if there is one code that doesnt need overweight fans its the Rugby league

https://www.instagram.com/p/DdFVlh6lGCV ... e=ig_embed

legit i laughed when i saw this...
like there kidding themselves That Sharks Fans from the Shire are going to run to this game because there is 50% off chips.
what weak promotion.

[makingnrlfansgowacko]

helf price chips untill half time of the game. if there is one code that doesnt need overweight fans its the Rugby league

https://www.instagram.com/p/DdFVlh6lGCV ... e=ig_embed

legit i laughed when i saw this...
like there kidding themselves That Sharks Fans from the Shire are going to run to this game because there is 50% off chips.
what weak promotion.

nothing beats a hot bucket of chips in the cold. plus the food from the venue now days isnt overly cheap

[Beaussie]

Friday 11 September

AFL - Fremantle Dockers vs Geelong Cats @ Optus Stadium (Perth)
Crowd: 59,725




NRL - South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Newcastle Knights @ Allianz Stadium (Sydney)
Crowd: 28,152

Disappointing NRL Finals crowd on Friday night. Are Souths not the supposed 'pride of the league'?

Will be interesting to see the crowd tonight for the NRL Finals in Sydney. Cronulla Sharks vs North Queensland Cowboys at Allianz Stadium will have many empty seats I am guessing.

[Beaussie]

Oh gees, could have got a full house at least at Shark Park.

[makingnrlfansgowacko]

for the amount of grief GWS cop, they are doing rather well next to the Sharks

[Beaussie]

Brisbane Lions vs Adelaide Crows @ The Gabba (Brisbane)
Crowd: 36,026

[Beaussie]

for the amount of grief GWS cop, they are doing rather well next to the Sharks

Fair point and they compare well to other NRL clubs in Sydney with long established histories eg: St George/Illawarra Dragons and Wests Tigers. Oh and the Western Sydney Wanderers. Could always do better yep, but the amount of rubbish thrown at the Giants regarding attendances seems silly.

[makingnrlfansgowacko]

The NRL trails the AFL on Thursday nights by the widest margin of any day. For the NRL, Thursdays are their worst days for crowds (17,500 average), while for the AFL, they are among their best (40,900).

V’landys admits it has surprised the NRL because people have work commitments that make it difficult to attend a game on a Thursday night.

What is his theory about why the AFL doesn’t have the same problem?

“We don’t have as much work from home in NSW as they do in Victoria, so people can take a few hours off and go to the game,” he said.

https://www.afr.com/companies/sport/AFL ... 815-p60onp

[makingnrlfansgowacko]

in summery of the article, the NRL is winning as they have had a bigger growth in crowd of the past 20 years, ignoring the AFL had put in 2 teams GCS and GWS,

the NRL needs more funding for stadiums despite never putting a cent in for anything

AFL gets Better crods in Melbourne over Sydney due to more people work from home in Melbourne

[Beaussie]

"So many empty seats": NRL's finals attendance problem laid bare
By Charles Goodsir

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2026/09/14/ ... nrl-finals



In the same weekend which saw 100,021 pack the MCG for the country’s first regular season NFL game, the NRL failed to crack 100,000 fans across the first week of finals.

The Sharks v Cowboys elimination final only drew 17,429 on Saturday night but even more concerning for the NRL, Sunday afternoon’s qualifying final between the Roosters and Panthers drew a crowd of just 22, 148.

It has led SEN’s Jimmy Smith to question the NRL’s strategy for finals and what more can be done to attract more supporters for the remainder of the 2026 finals series.

“You know who needs to pull up their socks? All of those people who didn’t go to games over the weekend in Sydney,” Smith said on SEN 1170.

“There were so many empty seats in great stadiums from across the weekend.

“CommBank Stadium is a great stadium. There were very poor crowds for three of the four games.

“28,152 fans for Friday night was unders for Rabbitohs v Knights.

“17,429 is desperate unders for Sharks v Cowboys.

“The Warriors sold their game out. They did their job.

“I reckon the figures (for Panthers v Roosters & Sharks v Cowboys) are fudged as well.

“There was no way there were 22,000 people in that stadium on Sunday.

“It’s really disappointing but now these teams all get another opportunity.

“Roosters v Sharks, Saturday night, Allianz Stadium, in your backyard. There has to be at least 30,000 there. Is that outrageous to say? Am I being conservative?

“Why do we have to say (get to games) to Sydney sports fans? I know for a fact that 82,500 fans would’ve bought tickets to go to the NFL at Accor Stadium.”

[Beaussie]