BY KANE AUSTIN

And you thought rugby league was dying in the bush? Well rest easy people, the AFL is dying out there too.

South Australia boast two AFL clubs in the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power and is a hotbed for Aussie Rules. It’s without a question an AFL stronghold. It’s AFL first, AFL second and third. It’s the same in Victoria.

But in scenes similar to country hubs right across New South Wales and Queensland, populations are dwindling and their sporting codes are paying the heaviest price.

Take Murrayville which sits on the border of Victoria and South Australia. All we hear in Sydney is rugby league is dead out in the sticks. It’s the same for AFL but that doesn’t sell papers in NSW or QLD.

The Murrayville club are on their last legs and there is a concession from AFL fans that it’s happening right across country Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. But you won’t hear it in the papers.

A source who has been an administrator in both codes and lived in the bush for more than thirty years has told The81stMinute both codes are struggling and it isn’t just league.

“It’s crap if you think it’s just NRL,” he said.

“Towns are dying and then the footy dies.

“Aussie Rules isn’t winning. They’re just dying slower.”

“There’s no more time for Todd Greenberg to stand still. He needs to support the teams he has left and pump up the different areas.”

The solution to the NRL’s woes doesn’t include pointing fingers.

Rugby league needs a solution and starts at the top.

The fact that the 16 NRL chairmen are stealing all the headlines again proves that the game is top heavy and out of proportion to where funds should be spent.

All the chairmen care about is their own club and how much money they can get but how much of that would go back into their catchment of juniors?

They don’t even have a country area they need to support.

That’s the NRL’s job.