A decade later, there is growing evidence to suggest Gallop may have been right and the Super League concept was simply ahead of its time.

A key feature of the Super League plan, and the one that caused so much division and bitterness, was reducing the number of teams in Sydney from 11, plus Illawarra, to just four, representing the city's north, south, east and west.

While the idea of merging clubs like the Roosters and Rabbitohs was never going to be acceptable, there are now nine Sydney teams - including St George Illawarra - and some are again questioning how long they can all survive.

As the likes of South Sydney and Canterbury continue to grow, there is a fear that clubs like Cronulla and Wests Tigers will not be able to keep up.

The gulf between the big Sydney clubs and those at the other end of the scale became evident during last year's record breaking NRL grand final and is reinforced by figures for memberships, crowds and finances.

South Sydney are the NRL's No.1 team both on and off the field, announcing a profit of $1.99 million for 2014 after increasing their turnover from $25.3 million the year before to $27.3 million last season.

The only other NRL club to finish in the black last season was the Broncos, whose revenue increased to $37.8m but profit fell from $2.032m in 2013 to $831,700 due to costs such as the decision to replace Anthony Griffin with Wayne Bennett as head coach, the restructuring of their player roster and the investigation into alleged salary cap irregularities.

The Bulldogs announced a $645,000 profit but only after a grant from Canterbury Leagues Club, which last year produced revenue totalling $85.6m and provided $4.9m in funding for football operations, including payments for marquee player arrangements.

With sponsorship income for this season set to exceed the $5.5 million Canterbury earned last year, the Bulldogs are expected to surpass their 2014 revenue of $24.6 million.

The Rabbitohs, who can now count James Packer as a co-owner after the billionaire casino operator purchased a 37.5 per cent stake in the club for about $7.5 million last October, made $10 million from sponsorships and $4.7 million from memberships in 2014, while income from merchandise sales increased by $1.2 million on the back of their grand final triumph.

The Rabbitohs were also the biggest drawing Sydney club, with average home crowds of 22,404 last season and are set to become the first NRL club to reach 35,000 members as they so far have 33,607 signed up this year.

The Broncos, whose average home crowds of 33,354 were the best in the NRL last season, are second in the membership stakes with 25,138, ahead of Parramatta (19,418), Canterbury (16,716), St George Illawarra (14,105), Sydney Roosters (14,056) and Penrith (14,029).

Those clubs also ranked in a similar position for crowds last season, with the Eels drawing average home attendances of 18,788 ahead of the Dragons (16,656), the Bulldogs (15,420) and Roosters (14,800).

After problems on and off the field in recent seasons, Parramatta and St George Illawarra officials have taken steps to keep pace with the Rabbitohs, Bulldogs and Roosters and the Eels crowds grew last season by 7,878 from 10,910 in 2013, while attendances for Dragons home games were up 4,469 from 12,187 the previous year.

Revenue from playing their four home games against the Rabbitohs, Bulldogs, Roosters and Tigers at bigger stadiums was largely responsible for a $966,000 improvement on St George Illawarra's profit and loss figures from the previous season, despite leagues club funding further decreasing to $790,000 from $850,000 in 2013 and $2.1 million in 2012.

The Panthers (11,462) were the worst drawing Sydney club last year but a crowd of 18,817 for their only home game at Penrith and the club's membership numbers indicate that won't be the case this season.

In contrast, membership figures for Manly (10,473), Cronulla (9,300) and Wests Tigers (7,820) suggest they could struggle to better  their 2014 average home attendances of 13,622 for the Sea Eagles, 13,104 (Tigers) and 12,631 (Sharks).