SOME of us have been a little sceptical about the prospect of a second AFL team coming out of Sydney's west, the supposed heartland of rugby league. But it's cynicism that may have to be revised soon due to sheer weight of numbers. Or in league's case, the lack of them.

Collingwood's win on Saturday night pulled a crowd just short of 60,000 to ANZ Stadium in Sydney's west, the fourth time in the past six AFL games at the ground when at least that many have turned up. They've come even for less appealing games, nearly 35,000 for Sydney's clash with struggling Essendon in round eight, the lowest crowd in the past two years. It suggests the interest is more than mere novelty.

And rugby league? Well, there were 78,751 at the State of Origin decider last Wednesday night. And shouldn't there have been for the biggest match of the season?

More instructive, however, may have been the big regular-season western suburban derby yesterday, between Parramatta and Penrith at Parramatta Stadium. Just 14,012 turned up, a crowd even the league described as "disappointing".

Yes, we know the arguments. More entertainment alternatives in Sydney, rugby league fans don't necessarily go to games as much, blah, blah, blah.

But if rugby league fans in Sydney's west can't be bothered going, who are all these people continuing to fill a ground in the same area for a supposed foreign code? Surely, they're not all Swans fans, otherwise the SCG would be filled every time. There's only ever a minority at ANZ, no matter how vocal, to cheer on the away team.

Perhaps there really are enough people in Sydney's west prepared to throw their support behind a new club. Perhaps, after the pioneering work of the Swans over more than a quarter-century, the ice really has been broken.

And perhaps the rugby league types who have snorted their disdain about AFL are a little worried. As well they might, if a game between two so-called interlopers draws more than four times what a traditional clash of their own local rivals can..