BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

As the days heat up and the energy of spring dances in the Sydney air, so goes the annual bandwagon migration to the Sydney Cricket Ground of the north shore elite and moustache-stroking inner west hipsters perfectly wrapped in brand-spanking new, straight-out-of-the-box, red and white scarves.

It’s almost September and finals footy time in both the NRL and AFL.

Up here in Sydney, it also means a few extra lines for the AFL in the local rags.

Maybe a back page or two if the Swans or GWS make the preliminary or the grand final.

Swans legend Jude Bolton gets some extra air-time over on Triple M, too.

But this year feels different.

Interest in the NRL has never been higher.

Television ratings are heaving with the NRL on-track to win the annual national ratings against the AFL again.

More alarming for the mafia bosses in the Victorian capital is that most people in Sydney haven’t noticed the fact that the Swans have won the minor premiership and if that’s the case, they certainly don’t know the orange team (based somewhere out that way), finished 4th.

Apparently, they’re also playing each other on Saturday week.

But you wouldn’t know it.

It’s barely been mentioned.

A few years ago, COVID brought all major sporting codes to their knees and broke a couple in the process. The NRL and AFL bounced back in big ways but what COVID did is make rugby league as strong as ever in its own backyards – particularly in Sydney.

TV numbers are at record highs, but fans are also showing up at stadiums across the city every weekend despite the cost-of-living crisis and a terrible history of picking the lounge over a ticket.

While the SCG is sold out for the AFL final, more people from other states will watch the game on TV than in NSW.

NRL fixturing for this weekend will see three Sydney derbies – all with possible ramifications for the finals including one of the last ever games to be played at Penrith Park in its current form.

Cronulla and the Sydney Roosters respectively host interstate sides too.

There are no games in the AFL at all this weekend with finals teams given a week off.

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It’s a death blow for the marketing department at the AFL who know it’s hard enough to get media attention north of the border – even more so when you’re closing down your competition for a week.

Next week the AFL in Sydney will be swallowed up by the Wests Tigers and Parramatta’s “Spoon Bowl”, a Friday night rivalry showdown between the Roosters and Rabbitohs and a must-win for St George Illawarra at Kogarah which kicks off at almost the same time.

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Never have we been so time-poor and never have we had to be so selective in what we do with our weekends.

What we consume on televisions and mobile phones or what we spend our money on.

For all the hundreds of millions of dollars invested into the Swans and now the Giants – the AFL have been given another reality check by the harbour city.

@woodward_curtis