All those issues you describe, are exactly what we face. Australia is quite vast, so getting to a game is expensive on its own. Then you add the drinking culture, which means you're training it in or busing it. The ticket prices isnt the total issue, its the drink and the food where they take you to town. tickets for a walk up person is $30 aud id say. which means a family of 4 is about $100. You then add food and drink and you're spending $200 for 3 hours entertainment.
However, in Sydney house prices are amongst the most expensive on the planet, and then everything on top of that is literally taking the piss. So adding $200 a week for entertainment, is literally a thing that will get crossed off the list.
You're average wage in Australia would be $70k taking into account full-time and part-time workers. Just a guess, that's about $1200 after tax (Someone correct me here, not sure). Remember this is average, so the working class, that enjoy NRL probably aren't at that level. I mean your average rent in Sydney is about $700 a week. As you can see, something has to give.