The Manly Sea Eagles have requested to host the Brisbane Broncos, Parramatta Eels and Sydney Roosters at Brookvale in 2025.
The NRL draw, which is set to be announced next week, has not seen the Broncos with an away game to Manly since 2014.
That is down to the fact the Sea Eagles have sold a game per year to the Queensland government where they have hosted the Broncos in Brisbane.
Since the start of Magic Round, that game has typically been the Friday night encounter of the round in prime time, with the Sea Eagles benefiting enormously on the financial front.
While it has raised eyebrows among NRL fans over the years, the Sea Eagles have finally brought the practice to an end for 2025, confirming recently they will play all 12 of their home games on the Northern Beaches.
It follows Manly's finals appearance in 2024, where fans rallied around the club and ensured multiple games were sold out.
In fact, across ten games played at Brookvale - which was rennovated in recent seasons - Manly averaged 16,473 per game in 2024.
That was an increase of almost 3000 per game on 2023, when the club only averaged 13,645 per game across their ten encounters.
Now News Corp are reporting that in a bid to keep that trend going in the right direction, the Sea Eagles have implored the NRL to be allowed to host the Broncos, Parramatta Eels and Sydney Roosters in home games.
The club believe all three would be instant sellouts.
โWe haven't played Brisbane at 4 Pines Park since 2014 so we have put in a request to play them at home. It would be exciting to play the Broncos at Brookvale,โ club CEO Tony Mestrov told the publication.
โWe definitely put the Broncos forward because we haven't played them at home for so long. I dare say that would be a sellout.
โThis coming season, we won't be playing a home game at Magic Round. Parramatta and the Roosters are also historic games for us.
โThey would be big crowd pullers. We are looking for home matches where we will get a big following. Parramatta is always massive and would be a sellout."
Fans in general rallied around the NRL throughout 2024, with Manly not the only club seeing an upward trend in fans through the gates.
In total, the competition averaged 20,171 fans per game in 2024, compared to 19,640 in 2023 and 16,250 in 2022.
In the decade before COVID hit, the highest crowd average for the competition came in 2012 when 16,423 fans attended on average, with 2005 presenting the best result of the NRL era when 16,468 fans per game attended on average.
It means the last two years have set new NRL crowd records, and it's something more than just the Sea Eagles are looking to cash in on.
The St George Illawarra Dragons have confirmed they will play an even six games a piece in Wollongong and at Kogarah, while the Wests Tigers have brought 11 of their 12 games back to Sydney with the other in Brisbane for Magic Round.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are expected to host a majority of their home games at Homebush, and the New Zealand Warriors have ten games locked into be played in Auckland after a grand slam of sellouts in 2024.
The NRL and NRLW draws are expected to be released at the same time next week.
