Most Popular NRL Team: Home attendance

Ok so let’s dissect this a little. Here are the top 5 teams based on attendance in our expert opinion.

The Broncos are the clear winners in this category being the only team to average over 30, 00 fans per game. The capacity doesn’t need to be taken into account, but hitting on average at close to 75 percent is a real decent effort in 2023. Suncorp is the Cauldron and it is because the Brisbane fans are always there to support their team and create an atmosphere that gets their team home more often than not.

There isn’t a lot of things better to a Manly fan than sitting on the hill at the now 4 Pines Park and knocking back a few crafties and watching the Sea Eagles play….. If  only they would win a few more games. However, that didn’t stop the fans piling in to Brookie last season and showing their support. The Sea Eagles sold out most of their games last season and averaged 90 percent capacity in their 12 home games. You love them or hate them but the fans on the Northern beaches are not afraid to show their support and pack into a home game.

The Mt. Smart Joker is an icon and has arguably become the smiling face of the whole NRL, not just the Warriors. This is a list based on home attendance, but there is also a clear trend when looking at games all around Australia and the increase of fans in the stands whenever the Warriors play in whatever city.  The numbers don’t tell the whole story here with the Warriors playing games in Wellington and Hamilton where the capacity is not the same, so averaging over 22, 000 is a big feat.

After 3 back-to-back premierships they would want to make this list. Penrith can certainly give their fans credit for part of their success as no matter what the temperature is at the foot of the mountain, their fans are there filling up BlueBet. Like Manly, the Panthers sold out plenty of their home games which restricted the amount they could have potentially averaged and you would have presumed it would have been closer to twenty-five thousand if there were more seats and a larger capacity.

The upgrade to Allianz has gone a long way for the Roosters to show that they are one of the most popular clubs in the game. Packing in an average of almost 23, 000 fans into their home games with the Chook Pen leading arguably the most passionate Sydney-based fans in the NRL. If you went to a game at Allianz and spent the pregame or postgame in the Eastern Suburbs you understand the reach that the Roosters home games have, all the way from Watson’s Bay to Maroubra border where the South fans will stop you in your tracks.