Spoon Bowl 2024: Why race to the bottom is more exciting than the one at the top

When they began their respective premiership campaigns, Parramatta and Wests Tigers would have hoped their final clash of the regular season would be of some consequence. So it has come to pass.

Yet, rather than squaring off for a spot in the post-season, it has become a battle to avoid finishing last. The Spoon Bowl, a contest between two Sydney strugglers, has captured the imagination of not only two long-suffering supporter bases but the wider rugby league community.

Given the participants aren’t playing for draft picks or to avoid relegation, the difference between finishing 16th or 17th appears negligible. Yet, the spoon brings a stigma that lingers long after the final siren, a historic footnote the participants are desperate to avoid.

“Nobody remembers second last,” Eels pivot Dylan Brown said during the week. “Everyone remembers last. And we don’t want that.”

In many respects, the race for the bottom is more compelling than the one at the other end of the ladder. Melbourne have top spot in their keeping. Having secured the minor premiership, the Storm appear to be in a two-horse race for the major one. It would be a shock if they didn’t meet Penrith in the decider.

Lachlan Galvin will be a key figure in the Spoon Bowl.Credit: Getty

Their most obvious threat, the Roosters, have won one of their past 20 games against the two heavyweights. And that was before they lost Sam Walker, Brandon Smith and, most likely, Victor Radley to season-ending injuries. The Sharks have traditionally played their best football by the time spring has sprung and Canterbury’s resurgence could be at least 12 months away from a fairytale ending.

If history is any guide, teams outside the top eight are merely making up the numbers.

Another Panthers or Storm premiership is hardly going to capture the imagination of the casual fan. But the Tigers avoiding the wooden spoon – now that’s a new narrative!

It would mean that a club with a rookie coach at the helm, still riven by factionalism a quarter of a century after the shotgun Balmain-Wests wedding, had finally started the long climb back. The negotiation of the first rung in the climb up the ladder would come at the expense of their western Sydney rivals. What a time to be a Tigers fan.

There are already signs of better days for the Tigers. Jarome Luai is on his way, with his stocks now higher than when he committed to the Tigers. And Phil Gould had this to say about the rising rookie who will be his halves partner, labelling him a better prospect than a young Joey, Freddy or Brandy at the same age.

“By the time he has retired – God willing, touch wood and I don’t want to mock him – Lachlan Galvin will have earned more money out of rugby league than any player in history,” Gould told the Six Tackles with Gus podcast last week.

“That’s my prediction. He is the best teenage footballer I’ve ever seen.”

There’s a delicious irony in the fact that Parramatta cut a young Galvin because of his lack of size. He now stands just seven centimetres shy of two metres. What the Eels would give to have their time over.

Two years after contesting a grand final, the blue and golds are in danger of finishing in the cellar. The decision to part with Brad Arthur has proved unsuccessful in saving their season, and they then failed to attract Wayne Bennett.

Now the club’s biggest names – including Mitchell Moses, Dylan Brown and Will Penisini – have contractual clauses that allow them to leave if they feel the grass is greener elsewhere. Incoming coach Jason Ryles is faced with potentially a bigger rebuild than the one he knocked back at St George Illawarra.

Only after Friday’s Spoon Bowl will Ryles understand the depth of the hole he must dig Parramatta out of.

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