How Mt Smart's key numbers are crunching

Last year's dismal season has hit the Warriors in the pocket, with the club reporting an NRL-worst 29 per cent drop off in club memberships.

Figures released by the NRL as part of a state-of-the-game briefing showed Warriors memberships had declined from 6748 last year to 4809. Only the Sharks and Panthers have fewer members, while only two other clubs, the Titans (-12 per cent) and the Storm (-8 per cent) recorded membership drops.

Club memberships were up 21 per cent across the board.

The best-performing club was beaten Grand Finalist Parramatta, which increased its membership base by 98 per cent - from 5219 to 10,332.

Coming on the back of two years of membership growth, the Warriors' drop-off was a direct result of last year's disappointing season, which the club entered as title contenders but ended in a lowly 14th position.

"Certainly winning and losing determines our income from things like memberships," said chief executive Wayne Scurrah. "It's a reflection of the season before and also the recession has been pretty tough in New Zealand. It is a settling back that we hope to turn around in future years."

The decline could have an impact on the club's ability to spend the full salary cap next season, admitted Scurrah.

The break-even point for match attendances was around 14,000 to 15,000, with the average crowd this year hovering just below that level.

"You can only spend the cap if you can afford it," Scurrah said. "Obviously all of our revenues are important to us."

The Storm's average crowds are up 60 per cent this season, despite the NRL club playing for no points.

The Storm, whose competition points for the 2010 season were stripped as part of the club's penalty for serious salary cap breaches, have recorded the highest percentage increase in average crowds among the 16 NRL clubs.

With only four home games so far this season, Melbourne have been helped to an average crowd of around 21,000 by playing three games at Etihad Stadium and one as part of the opening weekend of the new AAMI Park.

Both have much larger capacities than the Storm's old "graveyard", Olympic Park.

Parramatta's average home crowds have increased by 50 per cent and Canberra's by 34 per cent.

Attendances for Monday night matches are up by 20 per cent, boosted by the largest crowd since the concept began - 30,120 for the Easter Monday clash between Souths and the Bulldogs.

Overall, crowds for NRL games have increased by 4.2 per cent.

The news hasn't been as good for television ratings, with only Sydney recording an increase, of just 2 per cent.

Brisbane ratings are down 12 per cent, regional ratings down 9 per cent and Fox Sports ratings down 12 per cent.

The NRL argues the figures reflect drops all-round on free-to-air TV following the introduction of multi-channels and changes to how the information is gathered.

An NRL survey has found fans' satisfaction with the health of the game has increased from a score of 6.5 last year to 7.1 this year. Satisfaction with off-field behaviour has reached its highest score yet at 6.7.

Sponsorship has generated an extra A$3 million in revenue.

NRL chief executive David Gallop said: "It's a measure of the game's underlying strength and of the excitement rugby league generates among fans week in and week out.

"From time to time there are always going to be issues to deal with but it's clear that the fans are finding the [competition] more enthralling with every year."

Additional reporting: AAP