Brisbane Broncos rugby league team have held off a Storm surge to again lead the NRL in terms of fan support.
Although the team are not in the running to win the premiership, the Broncos have again won the annual Roy Morgan NRL supporter ladder with 1.09 million supporters (up 6.5 per cent on a year ago) ahead of a surging Melbourne Storm which increased its support by an impressive 26.7 per cent to 1.05 million supporters.
The increase in support for the Melbourne Storm came after the southern club won their third NRL title in 2017 with an easy 34-6 victory over the third most supported club the North Queensland Cowboys.
North Queensland won their first NRL title in 2015 and this year increased their support by 5.1 per cent to 640,000 in 2018.
The most well supported club in the Sydney heartland of rugby league is the Wests Tigers who increased their support by 4 per cent to 419,000 and are now just ahead of the Parramatta Eels with 411,000 supporters.
The enduring support for the Parramatta Eels is despite this year’s wooden spooners having the longest premiership drought of any NRL club stretching back to 1986.
Overall, seven NRL clubs increased their support in the year to June 2018, including the four most recent NRL premiers, the Melbourne Storm, Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys and South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Melbourne, Cronulla and South Sydney are all still in the hunt for this year’s Premiership.
