On a spectacular September afternoon, at the end of a top-five finals series, it was vindication for the Group Nine board to see an increase on last year of more than $11,000.

"The weather helped, it was a good day, and we're very pleased with it," president Peter McDermott said after overseeing his first grand final day.

"We wanted to return to the Sunday afternoon game. It's warmer, the ground's not slippery and we just thought it made sense to go back to tradition.

"It's been a good day, good football, and it's paid off with the crowd we've had."

Cold and wet weather for last year's 4.30pm Saturday kick-off didn't help, when the shorter finals series and season saw the game's showpiece event held on September 1 and a gate of around $25,000.

The first Saturday twilight decider in 2017 drew a gate of $32,347.

It's almost certainly a record for a Group Nine grand final. The highest figure of the last six years was close to $33,000 in 2015.

Six clubs were represented on Sunday, with Gundagai and Young featuring in three lower grades of football, Brothers and Tumut in the leaguetag and, of course, Tumut bringing plenty of support to see the Blues get up against Southcity in the main event.

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