The AFL fears the Marvel Stadium crowd, at an all-time low, is coming to North Melbourne’s clash with GWS on Sunday.
Melbourne and GWS currently hold the junk record, attracting a crowd of just 8,974 to what was then known as Etihad Stadium in round 23, 2015, the lowest attendance at the Docklands venue in its 22-year history.
North Melbourne (23,147) and GWS (18,177) are currently in 16th and 17th place, respectively, for this year’s average attendance.
The last time the ‘Roos played in front of their local fans, only 13,422 faced Melbourne.
SEN chief sports reporter Sam Edmund said there was a “real fear” at the AFL House that a minimum Marvel stadium audience would be released on Sunday.
“There’s a real fear, this home game against the GWS on Sunday afternoon could be less than 10,000 (people),” Edmund told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“This is a concern on Sunday at 3:20 pm at Marvel Stadium against the Giants.
“They had 5,000 against Port in Hobart, 13,000 in that home game against Melbourne at Marvel, 14,000 also for West Coast at Marvel and that was far behind in Round 2 before they actually went down that slippery slope.”
Audience numbers have been worrisome this season, and many fans cited several issues for the disappointing figures, such as the transition to digital tickets and the continued prevalence of COVID and flu in the community.