TRENT Barrett pleaded with the Manly faithful to turn up, Lyall Gorman even phoned members in a desperate attempt to drum up numbers, and yet the Sea Eagles crowd was embarrassingly low again.

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Round 20

Staring down the barrel of the worst season of average crowds at Brookvale Oval in more than 50 years, they not only set a new mark but did it comfortably with a paltry turnout of 6,382 for their final home game of the season.

Their season average of 8,630 reflects the club’s problems on and off the park including salary cap scandals, punch-ons, injuries to key players and a disgruntled coach.

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To put last Friday’s attendance into perspective, club rugby’s ‘battle of the beaches’ derby between the Manly Marlins and Warringah Rats at Rat Park drew a crowd north of 8,000.

It comes a fortnight after Fox Sports reported that the Toronto Wolfpack — a second-tier side playing in England’s Championship league — boasted a crowd of 8,217 in Canada, 2,000 people more than the Sea Eagles when they played against the Cowboys and Immortal-in-waiting Johnathan Thurston.

Wooden spoon contenders the Titans, who the Sea Eagles played on Friday night, have a much healthier home crowd average of 12,537.

Lottoland’s bare-looking hill wasn’t missed by observers.

The only difference between the quality of play in this game & that of #NRLManlyTitans last night is the size of the crowd watching crap football #NRLTigersDragons — NRL CONSPIRACIES (@NrlConspiracies) August 18, 2018

More missed tackles than spectators #NRLManlyTitans — Craig (@therealist131) August 17, 2018