When Sydney Swans players fell to their haunches after their 81-point loss to Geelong on Saturday, powerbrokers knew that was not the only heavy loss the AFL had incurred in the Harbour City that day.
While the MCG was packed with a record crowd – the biggest seen at an AFL decider since 1986 – at home the punters were turning off in droves.
The official figures for the Geelong versus Sydney grand final showed 2.18 million viewers in capital cities and 2.96 million viewers nationally, with 95,000 viewers on streaming platforms.
Lance Franklin of the Swans looks dejected during the 2022 AFL Grand Final match between the Geelong Cats and the Sydney Swans
In a huge blow to the code’s plans to win supporters in the city’s west, only 375,000 watched the game in Sydney.
The last two grand finals were held during the Covid-19 pandemic in the night time slot at grand finals held on foreign soil at Optus Stadium in Perth and the Gabba in Brisbane, and attracted roughly a million more viewers each.
However, the last daytime grand final at the MCG between Richmond Tigers and GWS Giants in 2019 had 2.197 million metro viewers tuning in with 2.90 million nationally. Both that grand final and this year’s decider had numbers well done on previous years.
Prior to that, 3.39 million people tuned in to watch the West Coast Eagles and Collingwood do battle in 2018.
Toby Greene of the Giants is emotional after the 2019 AFL Grand Final match between the Richmond Tigers and the Greater Western Sydney Giants
While powerbrokers are considering a move to twilight grand finals after the success of the Perth and Brisbane grand finals, the elephant in the room is nobody seems to watch Sydney teams at the big dance.
Which begs the question, is the battle for Sydney run, done and lost?
Huge numbers of NRL fans are expected to tune in for the Battle of the West between Penrith and Parramatta this Sunday.
It was only 13 years ago that the AFL declared war on Sydney’s west by dropping in the GWS Giants, armed with an upgraded stadium, a war chest of funds, draft selections galore, veteran coach Kevin Sheedy and former NRL star Israel Folau as their poster child.
The AFL has been spending money hand over fist on the battling Giants and the Swans.
In the foundation days of the Giants alone, $197 million was earmarked for GWS including a $60 million Skoda Stadium redevelopment, $27 million Blacktown complex and $10 million training base at Homebush.
The NRL didn’t care then and they care even less now.
Back then, ARL chief executive Geoff Carr knew battle lines had been drawn, but said the AFL’s real enemy was themselves.
‘It is a huge risk for the AFL and a lot of people say it will be their Vietnam,’ Carr said at the time.
‘If they want to fight out there, that is their call.’
Israel Folau and Callan Ward of the Giants celebrate GWS’s first AFL victory
Seven West Media and Foxtel recently signed the richest deal in Australian sport history for the rights to the AFL, a $4.5billion deal locking in broadcasting rights for the competition from 2025 to 2031.
Those powerbrokers will not be impressed that 900,000 fewer people tuned into this year’s final than the 2021 clash between the Bulldogs and Melbourne Demons in Perth and 750,000 less than the 2020 clash in Brisbane between Geelong and Richmond.
Seven West Media CEO James Warburton says the network will ‘always support the decisions the AFL makes for the fans’ but added that a night time grand final spot would be accessible for more people.
‘The numbers and comparisons are clear for all to see to support a primetime AFL grand final,’ he said.
‘It’s a national game and a twilight or primetime bounce will maximise the audience for the code.’
Nathan Cleary of the Panthers is tackled during the NRL Qualifying Final match between the against the Parramatta Eels. The two sides will meet again in a blockbuster grand final
Meanwhile, the two Sydney sides have been belted in their respective grand finals and been left to lick their wounds.
They have climbed the mountain only to come tumbling down the other side, hitting every rock on the way down.
The fans are turning away, the results are not on the board and another Sydney appearance in a grand final could kill off the traditional day time grand final for good.
The NRL has literally had to do nothing to combat the ‘threat’ of AFL. Although the construction of Bankwest Stadium by the New South Wales Government has driven another nail into the coffin of AFL in Sydney.
Bankwest Stadium has been a huge success and is one of the best suburban grounds in the country, let alone Sydney
The Penrith Panthers will contest their third consecutive grand final on Sunday. The Parramatta Eels will look to reward their success-starved fans with a drought-breaking premiership not seen since Peter Sterling in 1986.
Bankwest Stadium is the jewel in the crown for suburban stadiums and fans were lining up around the block at sports stores to buy merchandise for the NRL grand final.
The AFL’s uphill battle to move in on Sydney’s west just became even more difficult.
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