The Qualifying Final and Elimination Final crowd records are set to be given a nudge next week as the expectations are revealed.
One of the most thrilling home and away series in recent memories is set to lead into an enthralling finals series, with the first week serving up numerous mouth-watering matchups.
The finals series kicks off with Collingwood hosting Melbourne on Thursday before Sydney travels to the MCG to face Carlton the following night.
St Kilda and GWS then take over the ‘G on Saturday before week one ends with the Lions and Port Adelaide in Brisbane.
SEN Chief Sports Reporter Sam Edmund revealed the predicted crowd numbers on SEN’s The Captain’s Run.
“I checked in with the AFL last night, as of close of business yesterday, three of the four games are sellouts and the fourth is building nicely,” he began.
“Collingwood and Melbourne, they’re forecasting 94,000 next Thursday night.
“The league are expecting as many as 93,000 for Carlton and Sydney on Friday night, that’s the one I can’t believe.
“The Gabba is full, of course it is, for Brisbane and Port Adelaide, that Qualifying Final on Saturday night.
“And the St Kilda/GWS Elimination Final on Saturday afternoon sits somewhere between 55,000-60,000 and growing.
“They better get more than that, or the calls for that Marvel Stadium final won’t go away.”
Geelong and Collingwood set the record for the highest attendance at a Qualifying Final when the two sides clashed in front of 96,436 back in 2019.
When the Cats and Magpies met last year in a Qualifying Final for the ages, 91,525 turned up.
Meanwhile, the biggest Elimination Final came 10 years ago when 94,690 turned up for Richmond and Carlton.
The Gabba has a capacity of approximately 36,000.
The league revealed in early July the average round attendance was 305,130, the highest on record.