Kev
curtain raisers were played in a different era
Most weeks there were no reserved seats so crowds started to arrive at half time in the reserves to get a good seat. By 3/4 time the crowd was probably at 75%. In Finals it changed dramatically with only the unreserved MCC area having decent crowds pre match.
Fast forward to now when the curtain raiser has to finish 30-45 minutes before the AFL match and 70% plus of seats are pre-sold and the game is being played before an empty stadium