So what you're saying Biz is that we should view the Freo crowds in isolation and not in the broader context? It seems to me that's more the story driving the facts, rather than the facts driving the story.
Here's the numbers for the WC and Freo since 1995:
Year -- Freo -- Rank -- WC -- Rank -- Freo Perc Avg Share
1995 -- 23,361 -- 18 -- 32,120 -- 22 -- 42%
1996 -- 22,473 -- 20 -- 32,448 -- 21 -- 41%
1997 -- 21,982 -- 22 -- 32,582 -- 20 -- 40%
1998 -- 23,104 -- 19 -- 34,199 -- 16 -- 40%
1999 -- 23,972 -- 17 -- 30,868 -- 23 -- 44%
2000 -- 22,357 -- 21 -- 33,136 -- 18 -- 40%
2001 -- 21,258 -- 23 -- 32,669 -- 19 -- 39%
2002 -- 26,359 -- 16 -- 35,929 -- 13 -- 42%
2003 -- 30,681 -- 15 -- 38,077 -- 05 -- 45%
2004 -- 36,258 -- 04 -- 39,037 -- 04 -- 48%
2005 -- 35,224 -- 08 -- 40,267 -- 03 -- 47%
2006 -- 36,569 -- 03 -- 40,744 -- 02 -- 47%
2007 -- 37,474 -- 01 -- 40,791 -- 01 -- 48%
2008 -- 35,877 -- 07 -- 37,653 -- 06 -- 49%
2009 -- 33,144 -- 12 -- 36,377 -- 10 -- 48%
2010 -- 36,572 -- 02 -- 34,931 -- 14 -- 51%
2011 -- 34,394 -- 09 -- 37,436 -- 08 -- 48%
2012 -- 33,386 -- 11 -- 37,646 -- 07 -- 47%
2013 -- 34,266 -- 10 -- 36,051 -- 11 -- 49%
2014 -- 35,931 -- 06 -- 34,198 -- 17 -- 51%
2015 -- 36,210 -- 05 -- 35,987 -- 12 -- 50%
2016 -- 31,416 -- 14 -- 36,545 -- 09 -- 46%
2017 -- 32,192 -- 13 -- 34,543 -- 15 -- 48%
Not surprisingly our highest average attendance years were those where we've had great years or high expectations (with reasonable starts to the year).
The top 5 in order being:
i) 2007 = barnestorming finish to 2006, premiership favourites, recruintment of high profile KPF;
ii) 2010 = raced out of the blocks, great preseason series, defied expectations, underdog come good;
iii) 2006 = barnestorming finish;
iv) 2004 = made the finals for the first time the previous year;
v) 2015 = minor premiers.
Next cab of the rank was 2014. Which is a bit of a pattern here, where the year after we've had our more successful years top the numbers the year before (apart from 2016, where it took them nearly half a year to win a game). The jump from 2003 to 2004, is quite stunning (but is virtually mirrored in the reverse by 2015 to 2016's drop). Some of that might be the glow and raised expectation, but what also what follows success is you get more high profile games at home and better schedulling of time slots.
We've also gone nowhere near the low-tide years between 95-02 (is that something about context?).
It is apparent that 2007 was a high water mark for both clubs and neither have quite managed to get back there. Meth Coast dropped from near 41k down into the mid 37k range and Freo crowds eventually topped them in 2010, 2014 & 2015.
Edit: Sorry for the late add in (like it needed any more you say) but just thought to add an extra (quick and dirty) stat to show Freo's overall share of average attendances in that last column, and it shows it holding fairly well when you compare the 2004-11 period to the 2012-17 period.