The excuse will be that the AFL had an Elimination Final playing across the road at the MCG (that crowd rivals last nights which drew close to 92,000).
But if it was Manly, even a full house at Brookie would be critisised because they'd claim more could have fitted into the SFS or ANZ. Not that the NRL would allow us to play a home final at Brookie anyway, they'd force us to play at Allianz.