AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has made an extraordinary claim insisting that AFL will be the dominant sport in Queensland, overtaking the NRL.
With the AFL participant numbers at an all-time high in Queensland, outgoing AFL CEO McLachlan believes AFL will soon be the number-one sport in Queensland in as little as five years.
Speaking on the radio broadcast 3AW, McLachlan discussed that there are more participants in AFL than NRL across all levels in Queensland this year and believes the growth of Aussie Rules has been "dramatic" over the past couple of years.
“The growth in the football in Queensland has been dramatic, on the Gold Coast particularly,” McLachlan told 3AW on Friday.
“We'll have more participants this year in Queensland than the NRL – first time we'll break that record.
“The ratings are comparable to South Australia, we will be the biggest sport in that market in Queensland in five to 10 years across most metrics.