AFL Lands NRL Huge Blow With Bumper Crowd For Swans, Giants Game

The Australian Football League "landed a gigantic blow to rugby league in Sydney on Saturday" with 60,222 gathering to watch GWS win its maiden qualifying final over the Swans, according to James Buckley of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. This was the biggest AFL crowd at ANZ Stadium since '07 and dwarfed the National Rugby League's best effort for a club game this year, the 38,192 "who turned out to watch South Sydney lost to Canterbury in round four." The bumper attendance "fell just short of the 61,247 who turned up two weeks ago to watch the American college football game between University of California Golden Bears and the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii." The game was ANZ Stadium's last assignment as an AFL venue "before the ground is transformed into a rectangular venue" (SMH, 9/10).