NRL season opener between Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs to be as big as State of Origin Star attraction: Sonny Bill Williams. THE Roosters and Channel 9 have set the ambitious targets of a sell-out crowd and Origin-like ratings for the season opener against South Sydney. Superb trial match victories for the Rabbitohs in the Charity Shield and the Roosters in the Foundation Cup have set the scene for a huge start to the NRL season at Allianz Stadium on March 7. The anticipation surrounding the match had already been heightened because of Sonny Bill Williams' first game in the NRL for five years, but the sudden emergence of the Roosters as premiership threats has ramped up the hype. Often ridiculed for their modest crowd numbers, there is an expectation the Roosters faithful will turn up en masse, potentially filling the 42,000-seat stadium after a 27 per cent increase in membership. "This isn't a game where people should walk up and buy a ticket," Roosters chief operating officer Ted Helliar said last night. We've got an increase in membership, and have reciprocal rights with the Rabbitohs. Ticket sales are starting to really move. We want this to be a sell-out. Fit and firing: Greg Inglis. Nine boss and Roosters powerbroker David Gyngell has invested heavily in Williams' return to the game, with the network rolling out new promos last night positioning the controversial footballer-boxer as the "lone wolf" of rugby league. Last year's golden-point season opener between the Dragons and the Knights - in Wayne Bennett's first match at the helm in Newcastle - attracted a rating bonanza of more than 600,000 viewers in Sydney. It was the most watched regular season game last year, but Gyngell wants a "10 to 20 per cent" increase on that. "I'm expecting very big ratings," he said. Maybe not as big as State of Origin, but near on. Sonny Bill Williams is the most talked about footballer in the world at the moment. That gives us the chance to make it 10 to 20 per cent higher than last year, which would be about 800,000 viewers. Origin is about 1.2 million, and a normal Friday night game is about 400,000.