Actually many people prefer the strategy, patient buildup and intelligence required to play football, whereas **all you need to succeed in league is pace or strength.** If you have both, you're a superstar (ie Inglis).
The Aleague wont ever have more than 2 teams in Sydney, but those teams have the potential to be bigger than any other clubs in Sydney of any sport. It's by far the highest participation sport in the country, has a growing league and clubs which really connect with their fans and create some great atmosphere.
Outside of Leichhardt I think I've only ever been to maybe 2-3 NRL games in the last 10 year that had any atmosphere. It's like sitting in a stadium to listen to the birds sing and watch a team try to get down the other end of the field. You can hear a pin drop at most NRL, AFL, Super Rugby and cricket matches.
I don't know if clubs from any of these codes will ever build the same rapport with their fans as these football clubs do. It's just not in the nature of your regular NRL, Super Rugby, cricket or even AFL fan. They pay money to sit and watch a game (in silence for the most part) and that's all.
:wtf You forgot courage, skill, stamina, toughness agility etc etc etc.
As for the "patient build-up" of soccer….probably half of all soccer games end in a scoreless draw so you would have to be a patient person to even sit through that IMO. (If you were to endure the equivalent sort of thing in the bedroom you would have the worst case of blue balls in history).
Not knocking soccer but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to come to the conclusion that there are more attributes required by a rugby league player than a soccer player, at any level.