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First chance for a 'direct' comparison last weekend - Rebels just edge this round. Good effort considering the Rebels' patchy form so far and the hype for the Storm's first match for points since the salary cap scandal. We'll see how that pans out during the season though considering how the respective teams are expected to perform...
Melbourne Rebels vs Sharks = 15 126
Melbourne Storm vs Manly Sea Eagles = 14 561
2nd year will be the test for the rebels..
Remember the Force first year we had 26,000 bums on seats, we are now down to 20,000...
Sames as the Western Reds when they were in the ARL / Superleague.
The 1st year is "its a new sport lets get on it" 2nd year is the real test. but as we always say "there only there if there winning"...
They do love their sport in Melbourne so Burgs tells me!
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
Agree with Benny, the Test will be in a season or two. The Force had a very good crowd average first year and that dropped off considerably.
I feel though that the Rebels have a good leg up in the fact they are already playing in what looks a very decent stadium but no one likes a loser unless you are dumb enough to go for Richmond or Souffs.
Look at the Lions, I reckon a couple of Perth Spirit ARC home crowds were bigger then what the Lions drew
The Rebels can only hope they are like the Force. First year crowd averaged 28,424, second year crowd averaged 27,529.
It wasn't until the third year it dropped, which is why I believe it came down to RugbyWA playing their hand so very poorly. If folk were going to leave because the viewing was actually crap, they would have done so in the second year. They didn't leave until there was a concerted media campaign by the custodians of the game to bad-mouth Subi and tell the fans they were being ripped off. It could have been handled much more positively and at worst we would be exactly where we are now.