I don't agree with Neil's tone and approach, and I'm sure the Aussies are putting on a quality weekend for everyone.
However, looking at the
Day 1 results, I see that only 23 out of 37 (62%) players completed all eight rounds, and of the other 14, several dropped after three rounds. Also, two players entered in round 3 and dropped immediately afterwards.
It's always good to see new names on the tournament results screen and I encourage all of them to participate more in the future. But based on the total missed games across all players (72 MGs total), effective attendance was more like 28 than 37 from a games played perspective. I offer this fact for people doing after-action analysis.
My takeaways:
1.) Australia has a rapidly growing player base that they should be proud of and runs quality events
2.) The top line attendance numbers might not be the best indicator of overall tournament impact given the high percentage of incomplete sheets (38%) and the number of missed games (72 --> 9 Full Players). These factors should probably considered in any post-Worlds analysis.