Back in the day Sydney teams never went anywhere, they always played in Sydney or near enough for a leisurely drive so costs were minimal. Now they have to cough up for air travel,motels and big support staff numbers. They could see it coming (the expense) but generally were very poor at preparing for the game of the future. 20 cent admins in charge of a game counted in the millions of dollars.
When we first entered the comp the admin of the game insisted we( broncs) had to pay for air travel, sounds fair enough except they meant for the Sydney teams when they came here to play !! We also had to pay for our own when we travelled to their place. One way street !! Wests would come up and could'nt draw flies, lousy crowds, so we got a lousy gate taking but when we went to Sydney, they would reap a bonanza, everyone wanted to watch Brisbane play.
Crowds are hard to predict but the Cows were going ordinary and Roosters were the red hot favs...hardly enough to entice fans out on a Sunday...and with the transport woes. 5 and half thousand might actually be pretty good.