Brisbane chooses AFL’s Lions over NRL’s Broncos

The fans have spoken - the Brisbane Broncos no longer have a stranglehold over their city.

The Lions have knocked the Broncos off their perch. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty

A horror year on and off the field for the Brisbane Broncos has seen AFL rivals the Brisbane Lions leap over them in a survey which showed “emotional connection” for supporters of the NRL powerhouse dropped significantly in 2020.

The Australian women’s cricket team again came out on top of the survey of nearly 5000 people, and the World Champions retained the strongest emotional connection with Australian sports fans.

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Cricket and women’s teams dominated the survey, the fifth conducted by True North Research, to measure which teams engendered the greatest level of pride, trust, enjoyment, respect and bond.

The men’s national T20 team was second and the Test team third, despite not playing since last January.

But the biggest losers were the Broncos, who finished last on the NRL table this year and endured a season littered with problems which ultimately resulted in the sacking of coach Anthony Seibold.

The Lions have knocked the Broncos off their perch. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty

The Broncos suffered the biggest decline to its “emotional connection score” of any of the winter league teams across the AFL and NRL included in the survey.

Now the Lions, who made finals for the second year in a row, reaching the AFL preliminary final, have a “significant lead over” over their Brisbane rivals when it comes to emotional connection from supporters.

In the 2018 survey the Broncos had a 14 point advantage over the Lions. Fast forward to the 2020 and the Lions lead the Broncos by 29 points in a “benchmark score” reached by giving value to levels of pride, trust, enjoyment, respect and bond from supporters.

The drop off for the Broncos came despite sport providing a “necessary distraction and an important relief from the pandemic” for most fans.

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“This has resulted in an audience that is even more passionate and connected to its teams,” researcher Georgie Maynard said.

“COVID-19 has led some audiences to lose interest, whilst others have not had the capacity to connect, they have competing priorities.

“However, given the power of sport to connect us, it will be important that sport reaches out to the audiences who have struggled during this time, who may be feeling a sense of exclusion, and actively re-establishes that emotional connection.”

Benchmark “emotional connection” ladder, October 2020

1st Australia Women’s Cricket team

2nd Australia Men’s Cricket T20 team

3rd Australia Men’s Cricket Test Team

4th Matildas

5th Australia Women’s Rugby 7s team

6th Kangaroos

7th Socceroos

8th Diamonds

9th Boomers

10th Wallabies

11th Opals

12th Wallaroos

13th NSW Blues

14th Australia Men’s Rugby 7s team

15th Queensland Maroons

Originally published as Brisbane chooses AFL’s Lions over NRL’s Broncos