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With almost eight rounds down, the nominations for this year’s wooden spoon are starting to take shape.
The good news for Newcastle Knights fans is that after three consecutive spoons they appear to be unlikely winners (or losers) in 2018. They currently sit in sixth position on the ladder and look to have enough fight to avoid the dreaded title.
The leading lights for the bottom prize seem to be Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, Parramatta Eels, North Queensland Cowboys, Gold Coast Titans and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. My prediction is the Sea Eagles.
With off-field issues and rumours circling around team morale, the Manly seem to have a few dark days ahead. Last Friday night they lost to a Newcastle Knights team that was missing star recruit Mitchell Pearce. They had everything to play for, including their loyal but small home crowd, but the Manly fortress has currently lost its aura, and the seaside club is causing a touch of seasickness among their loyal fans.
To put things in perspective, it’s the first time the Newcastle Knights have beaten Manly at Brookvale Oval since 2006. If Manly do continue to struggle, it will be their first wooden spoon ever, which will be hard to take for a club that boasts such a proud history.
(AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
Other clubs that have managed to avoid the spoon are the Brisbane Broncos, New Zealand Warriors, St George Illawarra Dragons and the Wests Tigers. Having said that, a part of the Tigers, the Western Suburbs Magpies, managed to hold up 17 spoons before they merged with Balmain to create the Wests Tigers entity.
If Manly do grab the unwanted title, it will be a relief for the Parramatta Eels club, as they hold the record for most spoons among the current teams in the competition. Since their inception in 1947 they have come last 13 times, with a horror run early in their history comprising spoons in 1952, 1954 and then seven in a row from 1955 to 1961. That’s a cruel start.
I’m expecting Manly’s main competition to come from either the Parramatta Eels or the Bulldogs. The Eels enjoyed their first win of the season against Manly last week with a 44-10 thrashing. It’s possible that they’ve turned the corner, but we’ve all thought that before about many teams in 2018.
The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have lost two in a row and will come up against the Broncos next week away from home. Their form this season has been sporadic, but they have the talent to steer clear of the bottom of the table, with a bit of luck.
(Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Not so long ago the Canberra Raiders would have been in contention, but their fortunes appear to have changed – they displayed courage and a stern defensive attitude in their win against Johnathan Thurston’s Cowboys on Saturday in North Queensland.
Even though they only sit on three wins from eight games, they lost their first three matches of the year by a total of five points – the first game by two points, the second by two points and the third by one point. This indicates to me that they aren’t far away from the rest of the pack, but they still are struggling to put two good games together in a row.
So it’s Manly for me. There is still two-thirds of the competition to go, but with poor form and injuries, the signs aren’t good for one of the most successful clubs of the last 15 years.
Who is your pick?
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