A question very few has now been answered as our GFI (Gurgler Fan Index) unveils the 2018 Best Supported NRL Team. The GFI Nichols Trophy
We have taken a range of hopefully relevant statistics to come up with the 2018 Best Supported NRL Team, including Average Crowds, Memberships, Social Media and Jerseys.
From those stats we have ranked each category from best to worst and given out points from 16 to 1 (based on 16 NRL Sides). The team with the highest total wins the 2018 Best Supported NRL Team.
This is the fourth year of the GFI, and you can find links to the previous version at the end.
So the answer to the question of the 2018 Best Supported NRL Team is the North Queensland Cowboys from the Brisbane Broncos and Newcastle Knights.
They win the GFI Nichols Trophy, the latter in honour of rugby league’s greatest ever supporter – Mad Tiger Laurie Nichols.
How did we get to that point? Read on for more….
2018 Best Supported NRL Team – Average Crowds
SUMMARY
To find out the 2018 Best Supported NRL Team, you must start with the actual supporters that showed up.
This is of course not a complete level playing field with Brisbane having the luxury of a massive city to themselves, and other team being regularly given good or crap time slots.
But we have tried to find a few different measure that aren’t completely based on quantity over quality.
New this year is a measure for two terrible supporting night averages – Thursday night 7:50pm and Friday 6pm kick offs. Showing the truly dedicated fans. Corrected to population of course.
- Average Crowd – straight best average crowd
- Average Crowd Corrected – average crowd / greater population
- Crap Night Crowd Corrected – average Thu 7:50 & Fri 6:00 / greater population
- High – Low Crowd – % of lowest crowd against highest crowd
- % Full – average % full of home games
RESULTS
| Team | Average Crowd | Av Crowd Pts | Av Crowd Corrected | Av Crowd Corr Pts | Av Crowd Crap Night Pts |
| Brisbane Broncos | 31271 | 16 | 1.3% | 3 | 3 |
| Newcastle Knights | 18974 | 15 | 5.9% | 15 | 15 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 18532 | 14 | 3.3% | 14 | 11 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 17460 | 13 | 1.1% | 2 | 4 |
| Melbourne Storm | 17293 | 12 | 0.3% | 1 | 2 |
| Wests Tigers | 17291 | 11 | 3.0% | 13 | 8 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | 16606 | 10 | 2.9% | 11 | 9 |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 15417 | 9 | 8.9% | 16 | 16 |
| Penrith Panthers | 14197 | 8 | 2.5% | 10 | 12 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 14161 | 7 | 2.5% | 9 | 7 |
| Sydney Roosters | 13274 | 6 | 2.3% | 8 | 13 |
| Gold Coast Titans | 12807 | 5 | 2.0% | 6 | 1 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 12683 | 4 | 2.2% | 7 | 10 |
| Canberra Raiders | 11854 | 3 | 2.9% | 12 | 14 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 11274 | 2 | 2.0% | 5 | 5 |
| Parramatta Eels | 11175 | 1 | 2.0% | 4 | 6 |
| Team | Crowd High Lo Diff | Crowd High Lo Diff Pts | Crowd %Full | Crowd %Full Pts |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | 16.9% | 2 | 74.8% | 16 |
| Penrith Panthers | 47.6% | 11 | 66.1% | 15 |
| Brisbane Broncos | 46.8% | 10 | 59.6% | 14 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 55.1% | 14 | 58.2% | 12.5 |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 44.1% | 9 | 58.2% | 12.5 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 68.6% | 16 | 57.6% | 11 |
| Newcastle Knights | 57.2% | 15 | 57.5% | 10 |
| Melbourne Storm | 39.0% | 8 | 54.2% | 9 |
| Gold Coast Titans | 19.2% | 5 | 53.7% | 8 |
| Canberra Raiders | 48.2% | 12 | 47.4% | 7 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 18.4% | 3 | 45.0% | 6 |
| Wests Tigers | 26.8% | 7 | 42.0% | 5 |
| Sydney Roosters | 48.9% | 13 | 33.5% | 4 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 18.5% | 4 | 26.5% | 3 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 16.6% | 1 | 20.0% | 2 |
| Parramatta Eels | 24.5% | 6 | 14.4% | 1 |
2018 Best Supported NRL Team – Membership
SUMMARY
Not everyone can turn up to each game, so a Membership is nice way of measuring the 2018 Best Supported NRL Team.
Those fans have a year-long interest in their team, and are willing to spend the chunk of cash it needs to buy one.
It can also include those that live in another area of the country and can only get to one game a year.
New for this year is the % change from the previous year.
- 2018 Membership – straight best 2018 Membership figure.
- Year on Year Change – change from 2018 Membership figure to 2017.
- 2018 Membership – Membership figure / greater population
- Average Crowd Membership – average crowd figure / membership. To see how many turn up to balance big membership who don’t show.
RESULTS
| Team | 2018 Memb’ship | 2018 Memb’ship Pts | Memb’ship YOY Change | Mem’ship YOY Change Pts | Mem’ship Pop Corrected Pts |
| Brisbane Broncos | 35527 | 16 | -2% | 5 | 3 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 29117 | 15 | -4% | 2 | 14 |
| Parramatta Eels | 25110 | 14 | 2% | 9 | 12 |
| Melbourne Storm | 25000 | 13 | 22% | 15 | 1 |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 22876 | 12 | 3% | 10 | 16 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | 20862 | 11 | 9% | 13 | 11 |
| Wests Tigers | 20254 | 10 | 12% | 14 | 10 |
| Canberra Raiders | 20054 | 9 | 5% | 12 | 13 |
| Penrith Panthers | 20000 | 8 | -1% | 6 | 9 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 19480 | 7 | 3% | 11 | 8 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 17782 | 6 | -2% | 4 | 2 |
| Newcastle Knights | 17451 | 5 | 31% | 16 | 15 |
| Sydney Roosters | 15876 | 4 | -1% | 7 | 7 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 15768 | 3 | 1% | 8 | 6 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 12420 | 2 | -6% | 1 | 5 |
| Gold Coast Titans | 10667 | 1 | -2% | 3 | 4 |
| Team | Avg Crowd Mem’ship% | Avg Crowd Mem’ship% Pts |
| Gold Coast Titans | 120% | 16 |
| Newcastle Knights | 108% | 15 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 98% | 14 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 91% | 13 |
| Brisbane Broncos | 88% | 12 |
| Wests Tigers | 85% | 11 |
| Sydney Roosters | 84% | 10 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 80% | 9 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | 80% | 8 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 73% | 7 |
| Penrith Panthers | 71% | 6 |
| Melbourne Storm | 69% | 5 |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 67% | 4 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 64% | 3 |
| Canberra Raiders | 59% | 2 |
| Parramatta Eels | 44% | 1 |
2018 Best Supported NRL Team – Social Media
SUMMARY
Sometimes it is not about bums on seat, it is now about thumbs on keys.
Social Media is important, and this is a way to reach out to all supporters all over the world.
New for this year is the addition of Instagram. Also new is the change of Likes / Followers from the 2017 GFI figure.
All social media figures taken as of the day of writing this.
Interestingly there’s a distinct rise in Twitter compared to Facebook.
The podium for the Social Media sub category is Broncos, Storm, Roosters.
- Facebook Likes
- Facebook Likes Change Facebook likes change from 2017
- Instagram Followers
- Twitter Followers
- Twitter Followers Change Twitter Followers change from 2017
- Social Total is for viewing purposes only. Just to come up with a Social Media winner.
RESULTS
| Team | Facebook Likes | FB Likes Pts | FB Like Change % | FB Like Change% Pts | Instgram | Instagram Pts |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 287000 | 11 | 0.00268 | 7 | 139000 | 12 |
| Brisbane Broncos | 648000 | 16 | -0.00382 | 5 | 193000 | 16 |
| Newcastle Knights | 199000 | 7 | 0.316268 | 16 | 59200 | 3 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | 180000 | 4 | 0.043406 | 14 | 81500 | 7 |
| Wests Tigers | 264000 | 9 | 0.010793 | 10 | 78300 | 6 |
| Sydney Roosters | 238000 | 8 | 0.079424 | 15 | 115000 | 11 |
| Melbourne Storm | 494000 | 15 | 0.012818 | 12 | 146000 | 14 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 480000 | 14 | 0.011476 | 11 | 179000 | 15 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 427000 | 13 | -0.00116 | 6 | 146000 | 13 |
| Penrith Panthers | 152000 | 2 | 0.034 | 13 | 69200 | 5 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 167000 | 3 | 0.005667 | 9 | 82500 | 8 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 283000 | 10 | -0.0067 | 3 | 103000 | 10 |
| Canberra Raiders | 150000 | 1 | 0.003344 | 8 | 56400 | 1 |
| Parramatta Eels | 317000 | 12 | -0.0115 | 1 | 98900 | 9 |
| Gold Coast Titans | 193000 | 6 | -0.0103 | 2 | 59200 | 2 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 186000 | 5 | -0.00531 | 4 | 62800 | 4 |
| Team | Twitter Followers | Twitter Followers Pts | Twitter Followers Change % | Twitter Follower Change% Pts |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 77200 | 10 | 0.053206 | 12 |
| Brisbane Broncos | 134900 | 16 | 0.053906 | 13 |
| Newcastle Knights | 55400 | 2 | 0.047259 | 10 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | 61200 | 5 | 0.081272 | 16 |
| Wests Tigers | 82500 | 11 | 0.060411 | 15 |
| Sydney Roosters | 69600 | 9 | 0.056146 | 14 |
| Melbourne Storm | 122400 | 15 | 0.037288 | 7 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 100100 | 13 | 0.012133 | 1 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 101300 | 14 | 0.029472 | 5 |
| Penrith Panthers | 56400 | 3 | 0.048327 | 11 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 65200 | 8 | 0.041534 | 8 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 91000 | 12 | 0.031746 | 6 |
| Canberra Raiders | 51700 | 1 | 0.044444 | 9 |
| Parramatta Eels | 60500 | 4 | 0.027165 | 4 |
| Gold Coast Titans | 62800 | 7 | 0.026144 | 3 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 61500 | 6 | 0.018212 | 2 |
| Team | Social Total |
| Brisbane Broncos | 66 |
| Melbourne Storm | 63 |
| Sydney Roosters | 57 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 54 |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 52 |
| Wests Tigers | 51 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 51 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | 46 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 41 |
| Newcastle Knights | 38 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 36 |
| Penrith Panthers | 34 |
| Parramatta Eels | 30 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 21 |
| Canberra Raiders | 20 |
| Gold Coast Titans | 20 |
2018 Best Supported NRL Team – Jerseys
SUMMARY
The NRL prides itself on jerseys. Allowing most teams to produce 5 or so a year, and revolving theme rounds around the sales of more jerseys.
Sadly we couldn’t find any NRL jersey sales figures to use to find the 2018 Best Supported NRL team in terms of best dressed, so we have used Ebay.
We searched the highest cost 2018 NRL jersey of every single team. Not quite quantity of sales, but a popularity measure all the same.
Gold Coast jersey is actually cheaper on Ebay.
- 2018 Ebay NRL Jersey Sale – highest cost of jersey the most popular and wanted. We say anyway.
| Team | Jerseys | JerseyPts |
| Sydney Roosters | $1,999 | 16 |
| Brisbane Broncos | $550 | 15 |
| Melbourne Storm | $450 | 14 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | $380 | 13 |
| North Queensland Cowboys | $310 | 12 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | $299 | 11 |
| New Zealand Warriors | $280 | 10 |
| Penrith Panthers | $280 | 9 |
| Wests Tigers | $280 | 8 |
| Parramatta Eels | $280 | 7 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | $250 | 6 |
| Canberra Raiders | $219 | 5 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | $180 | 4 |
| Newcastle Knights | $169 | 3 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | $159 | 2 |
| Gold Coast Titans | $90 | 1 |
2018 Best Supported NRL Team Final Result
As we said at the start, the North Queensland Cowboys are the 2018 GFI Nichols Trophy winner for 2018 Best Supported NRL Team.
Broncos are up high again, as are the Newcastle Knights.
Dragons and West Tigers are the best in Sydney, and it is probably surprising to see the Rabbitohs as low as they are, as they seem to have a fan in a Souths jersey everywhere in the world.
Manly and Gold Coast will probably surprise very few by being a fair distance away at the bottom
The full list is below to read at your leisure.
| Team | TOTAL POINTS |
| North Queensland Cowboys | 168.5 |
| Brisbane Broncos | 163 |
| Newcastle Knights | 162 |
| St George Illawarra Dragons | 150 |
| Wests Tigers | 148 |
| Sydney Roosters | 145 |
| Melbourne Storm | 143 |
| New Zealand Warriors | 135.5 |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 135 |
| Penrith Panthers | 128 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 112 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 111 |
| Canberra Raiders | 109 |
| Parramatta Eels | 91 |
| Gold Coast Titans | 70 |
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 69 |
Previous Best Supported NRL Team Results
[…] Follow that 2018 GFI – Best Supported Team here. […]