Lamed with Queensland-shaped contusions from its great code rival, the NRL has responded in 2023 with a swift combination - setting the AFL on its heels.
Before the code wars, only one team sport had the hearts and minds of young Brisbane men with time to kill on a winter’s weekend.
The enemy was no longer union, which had long receded from primacy, but rugby league. The working man’s sport had entered Queensland in early 1900s and truly moved forward, Bird said, when rugby was slow to re-establish competitions following the decimating years of World War I. While the Bad News Bears were getting thrashed and playing to small crowds, the similarly aged Brisbane Broncos were embarking on an era of national dominance under Wayne Bennett.
With the Dolphins and Broncos both undefeated, Friday night’s inaugural “Battle for Brisbane” has sent the city into State of Origin-esque anticipatory rapture. The Lions responded to the Battle of Brisbane hoo-ha this week with posters urging fans to come along and watch “real footy” instead.“You’ve got be a little edgy to get a bit of cut-through up here,” Lions chief executive Greg Swann told SEN radio on Thursday, adding ticket sales had moved past 30,000 after floundering from last week’s insipid loss to Port Adelaide.
It has added 34 teams – half of them for girls – to its Youth Community Football program and lists 170 community Aussie rules clubs in 11 leagues.
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