Is Queensland really becoming an AFL state?

Departing AFL boss Gill McLachlan claimed recently that Queensland was becoming an AFL state.

“We’ll be the biggest sport in that market in 5-10 years across most metrics,” McLachlan boldly claimed back in July. “It is changing. Queensland is pumping and becoming an AFL state.”

You wouldn’t have known it this week, though, judging by the attention the Brisbane Lions are receiving compared to the Broncos in the lead-up to their respective AFL and NRL grand finals.

Last Saturday, McLachlan’s theory was put to the ultimate test. The Lions, in a preliminary final against Carlton, was the precursor to the Broncos-Warriors NRL preliminary final later that night.

In Brisbane, 161,000 tuned into Channel Seven for the Lions’ grand final qualifier. That compared to the 316,000 in Brisbane who watched the Broncos end New Zealand’s resurgent season on Nine, the owner of this masthead.

In the first weekend of the codes’ respective finals series, the Broncos drew triple the…