This page was last edited on 6 May 2021, at 02:34. 2021 Wooden Spoon Betting St George Illawarra Dragons. Parramatta went on to win the game 14-8. The Tigers were formed in 2000 from a merger of the Western Suburbs Magpies, a team the NSWRL had been trying to get rid of for years, and the Balmain Tigers. Its private-college heritage is still honoured, as recently as last week when the unfortunate Shore School rugby firsts had a real spoon planted on their home ground. The Balmain Tigers enjoyed a sixty-two season wooden spoon drought from 1911-1974, and St. George Dragons had went 60 seasons (1939-1998) prior to the joint venture with the Illawarra Steelers, In recent NRL seasons, the media had started to describe the matches between the two last placed sides as the "Spoon Bowl". In 2017, the Wests Tigers and Newcastle played in the fourth spoon bowl game with Wests defeating Newcastle and avoiding last place. A portion of that dressing room, fearing they had lost him, jumped in too. Please try again later. But if we have nothing to fear but fear itself, then that is all the more reason to be scared. In 1909, Cambridge banned it as it was felt to be horribly mean. If those clubs include hugely-supported ones like Parramatta and Canterbury, that means more than half of all NRL fans spend their winter worrying about the spoon. Since the Melbourne Storm's salary cap breach which saw them win the wooden spoon in 2010 (more below), betting agencies have instead placed wagers on who would suffer the most losses in a single season, rather than win the wooden spoon itself. Top and bottom, it’s all about momentum. In 2010 the Melbourne Storm repeated this feat, albeit in unusual circumstances. They are the only current pre-1995 club to have avoided the wooden spoon. Western Suburbs were the only team to finish last in a season (1933) and then back up with a premiership in the following year. *Parramatta had a mortgage on wooden spoons in the late 1950s and early 1960s as they came last eight times in 10 years from 1952 to 1961 and winning the spoon six times in a … To do it they’ll need to beat either Parramatta or North Queensland, or both. If teams at the bottom are only playing for pride, those who win the spoon must have the least pride. They went on to win the 2016 Premiership. In 2003, the Penrith Panthers won a premiership after finishing wooden spooners in 2001, and after finishing round 2 of the 2003 season in last place (15th). ''They won in 1930, were runners-up in '32, got the wooden spoon in '33 and were premiers in '34. The best team doesn't always win the premiership, and likewise, the most deserving team doesn’t always win the spoon. It would be a mighty effort for the Broncos to rise from a historic first … The unheralded Rabbitohs have their anti-matter counterpart in the over-heralded Eels. Their names live in ignominy. The original spoon was made of real wood. Best teams to not win the title of the past 30 years (in chronological order) 1993 Canberra Raiders. They are the corporate department on another floor, with executive bathrooms. It was a golden era.'' Consider this: the Broncos won a paltry three games this season, lost 17 of their last 19 games, witnessed the demise of … To invest your passion in wanting other teams to lose makes for a dismal weekend. Most ‘successful’ Wooden Spoon team The 1976 Collingwood Magpies hold the record for the most wins by a wooden spoon team in a season with six wins. It's a remarkable stat that Manly is the only club in the NRL to have never won the wooden spoon. % refers to the percentage of seasons played that resulted in wooden spoons. ''It's still considered one of the best Wests teams,'' McWhinnie said. It's a remarkable stat that Manly is the only club in the NRL to have never won the wooden spoon. The only current NRL team to have done so, Manly have never received the wooden spoon in their history. BRONCOS TO FINISH NINTH. Balmain have, and Wests Magpies have won the most, but if we can’t count the premierships they’ve won combined, then … Or against. But it’s become more democratic. What matters for spoonophobes is not winning, but which rival spoon contenders are losing. The Brisbane Broncos. The experts at NRL.com have had … The Warriors and Broncos have been around for 23 and 30 years respectively, Manly for 72. It becomes the only thing to play for. Their organisation? Oh, and they’ll have to assume the Bulldogs lose to Penrith in Round 20. Results have gone south and they look closer to the wooden spoon than the finals. (Contrast the NRL's good fortune – open contests for both premiership and spoon – with the AFL’s, where Richmond have been runaway premiership favourites since last year’s grand final, while Carlton had the spoon wrapped up back in March. After making the grand final in … And if it hurts, it’s got to be a thing. But Wests (the kings of spooning with 17 in 92 seasons), Balmain, St George and Illawarra all won it, so that leaves only the Warriors, Broncos and Manly as entirely spoon-free. ... have won … The wooden spoon is an unofficial award, however, fans often bring "real" wooden spoons to taunt opposition sides who are struggling on the bottom of the ladder. Wooden spooners have never had it so good. We have never won the spoon. The Bulldogs, like the Titans, wriggle out of the spoon zone by playing with the freedom of low expectations. The Storm then went on to win its first official minor premiership in the 2011 season, before finishing one game short of the Grand Final. They have gone from 1990s champs to NRL chumps. But Manly, everyone else’s perennial spoon preference, have throughout 2018 looked like a team without seventeen players who can play for eighty minutes each week. Brisbane has never won a wooden spoon. You ignore the teams jockeying for the premiership. As the end-of-NRL-season tension ratchets up, those who are concerned about your mental welfare might tell you that the wooden spoon "is not a thing". Phil Rothfield. After winning the 1952 premiership, Western Suburbs finished last in the season 1953. Bold teams indicate that the club still exists in the present competition. But it does matter! Teams coached by Anthony Griffin have traditionally been competitive without being spectacular, but it might be time to consider the Dragons as the best bet for the spoon. And before you blame the players, where is the bedrock of support they are playing for? Three other current clubs have also never claimed the wooden spoon: New Zealand Warriors (24), St. George Illawarra Dragons (20), and Wests Tigers (19). Friday night … Where’s the fun in that, you ask.). Five teams in the NRL – Wests Tigers, St George Illawarra, the New Zealand Warriors, the Brisbane Broncos and Manly – have never won the wooden spoon. The fans? Parramatta and the Cowboys confound expectations by being where they are. For an NRL fan, which implies depressive tendencies, you can be far more scared of a spoon than you were ever euphoric about a premiership. New Zealand Warriors 2004. Least Wooden Spoons Won The Wests Tigers, Manly Sea Eagles and St George Illawarra Dragons have never won the Wooden Spoon, while the Canberra Raiders finished last only once in their maiden year in the NRL competition in 1982. Why? The Dragons (Matt King/Getty Images) Now St George Illawarra have never taken out the spoon, but if the club wants to say they won ten in a row as the Dragons back in the day, they also have to cop the three last places taken out by the Illawarra half of the joint venture as well. Not sure that's a stat that has been replicated, and minor premiership is obviously a more reliable stat of the better team throughout the year than the eventual premiers. For fans, wooden spoon phobia engenders an upside-down way of watching the game. And Des Hasler is in the gun. SP denotes seasons played. Who cares about them. The NRL wooden spooners win no favours, and I can’t see anyone paying money to hear from them. The result ensured Parramatta finished with the wooden spoon, their 14th in total. There were fears before the match that it could have been the lowest crowd for an NRL game in 20 years. Coach Trent Barrett was not talking about it, but perhaps sensing it, he jumped overboard back in July. Each of these seasons is considered to represent one continuous line of competition dating back from the first season in 1908. It doesn’t exist, therefore you should stop obsessing about it. (According to this logic, the 2018 NRL wooden spoon should maybe go to the Knights or Raiders, because at least they haven’t been outright failures.) records accurate as of end of 2020 season. Their club’s proud history? Where did it go wrong across the ditch? Ironically, the 21st century’s least successful club, the Carlton Blues, has won all 5 of their Wooden Spoons since 2002. There’s money in it. It gets awarded. In Round 24 of the 2018 season, Parramatta played against North Queensland in the sixth edition of the spoon bowl. Though the team has been part of NRL for a long time, they do not have a single wooden spoon. As the Broncos mysteriously keep winning despite injuries, inexperience and turmoil, the Cowboys mysteriously keep losing despite having substantially the same team that played in two of the past three grand finals. Souths, Easts and Newcastle appear to be the oldest continuous stand alone clubs who formed the New South Wales Rugby League and are still in the National Rugby League. Five teams in the NRL – Wests Tigers, St George Illawarra, the New Zealand Warriors, the Brisbane Broncos and Manly – have never won the wooden spoon. A likeable man, he at least did not lose the dressing room. But Wests (the kings of spooning with 17 in 92 seasons), Balmain, St George and Illawarra all won it, so that leaves only the Warriors, Broncos and Manly as entirely spoon-free. NRL Round 10 teams: Reynolds back for Souths, major changes for Tigers ... because it appears as though the 2020 wooden spoon won’t be taken out by the team … In the 2014 NRL season, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks were the wooden spoon recipients. The Brisbane Broncos' wooden spoon in 2020 has led to suggestions they may respond by trying to import success from elsewhere — but that's a flawed idea, writes Richard Hinds. "I've just learned to keep my mouth shut, because they're all my close mates as … Not answering your question, but a stat I love is Souths going from Minor Premiers to Spoon in 89/90. Now, the Broncos have two weeks to palm off the unwanted prize. [2][3][4][5][6], Teams which finished last in the premier top-grade rugby league competition in Australia, "Australian rugby league wooden spooners", Learn how and when to remove this template message, "NRL warned against adopting promotion-relegation ahead of 'spoon bowl' clash", "NRL: Honesty and accountability driving Canberra Riaders' finals surge", "Tedesco out of 'Spoon Bowl' match against Knights", "Eels beat Dogs to leave wooden spoon open", "North Queensland hammer Parramatta 44-6 in Johnathan Thurston's final home game", Gold Coast-Tweed Giants / Gold Coast Seagulls / Gold Coast Chargers, National Rugby League reserves affiliations, Brisbane A-Grade Rugby League (2001-present), Queensland Rugby League South East Queensland Division, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Australian_rugby_league_wooden_spooners&oldid=1021681762, Articles needing additional references from January 2020, All articles needing additional references, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 1909, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1916, 1933, 1940, 1942, 1953, 1955, 1971, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1998, 1999, 1947, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1970, 1972, 2012, 2013, 2018, 1921, 1923, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1915, 1917, 1919, 1932, 1941, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1979, 1924, 1925, 1928, 1939, 1968, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1945, 1946, 1962, 1975, 1990, 2003, 2004, 2006, SP denotes seasons played, Bold denotes team is still in competition, SP denotes seasons played, Bold denotes still in competition. The Bulldogs have two wins all year, while the Broncos and Cowboys have one more in the W ledger. According to Francis Grose’s 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, it was invented by Cambridge University mathematics students for the student who got the lowest marks yet still graduated. Wooden spoon phobia is a submerged reef that lurks ominously in May and June, then begins to show when the tide drops out in July. So they actually compete to win the spoon, which is a bit like AFL clubs tanking to win draft concessions. The Australian rugby league wooden spooners are the team that finished last in the premier top-grade rugby league competition in Australia, which is currently the National Rugby League, and was previously the New South Wales Rugby Football League (1908-1994), the Australian Rugby League (1995-1997), and Super League (1997). You can worry the spoon into reality. The wooden spoon has a proud tradition. South Sydney went from minor premiers in 1989 to wooden spooners in 1990. The worst team in the NRL has been gifted a prime-time evening slot for 17 of the last 22 rounds, and there’s more where that favourable treatment has come from. Manly fans vote with their feet. There are always upsets – the Roosters lose to the Raiders, disrupting momentum at the top, the Eels smash the Dragons and Manly beat the Sharks to confound expectations at the bottom, but there is an underlying gurgle, like water running out of a drain, and outcomes begin to seem inevitable. The Tour de France, in which the symbolic ‘lanterne rouge’ goes to the last-placed rider, has altered its points rules to make it harder for a cyclist to intentionally finish last. While, Gold Coast have only amassed four wins themselves, the odds suggest that Titans aren’t at risk of being crowned “winners” of the wooden spoon. After winning the 1942 premiership, Canterbury-Bankstown then crashed to last place in season 1943. While many fans gauge their sights to who will win the 2021 NRL Premiership as the season rolls closer, the tight battle at the top might just be as enticing as the scrap to avoid the wooden spoon. Wests Tigers ! As the Roosters spend their way to top spot, Canterbury anti-spend their way towards the bottom, showing that at both ends of the table, they get what they paid for. As of 2020, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles have avoided the wooden spoon in their 71 completed seasons since entering the competition in 1947. The Warriors have never won the wooden spoon. Struggling: Manly have existed for over 70 years and have never got the wooden spoon. Fans, who are not tough and are consumed by their fears, cry, "Talk about it, you idiots!" That’s got to hurt. In 2014, the term was used again when Canberra played against Cronulla with both sides sitting on the bottom of the table. But you are in a space – at home, refusing to have your heart ripped out at live matches - where nobody can hear you scream. Most ‘successful’ Wooden Spoon turnaround team Not a great send-off: Johnathan Thurston's Cowboys are sitting last with two rounds to go. A club record win came in 1973 when they beat Penrith 70-7 while their heaviest defeat was 6-68 against Cronulla in 2005. Not a great send-off: Johnathan Thurston's Cowboys are sitting last with two rounds to go.Credit:AAP. In 2015, Newcastle and Penrith played against each other in the third instance of the "Spoon Bowl" term to be used. Three other current clubs have also never claimed the wooden spoon: New Zealand Warriors (24), St. George Illawarra Dragons (20), and Wests Tigers (19). Few are tipping the Broncos to play finals but the players have other ideas. But if there was a team in the opening round of the premiership last weekend who dished up a wooden spoon-type performance, it was the Sea Eagles. Struggling: Manly have existed for over 70 years and have never got the wooden spoon. Alas, your television, radio, newspaper and favourite website do not listen. It's a remarkable stat that Manly is the only club in the NRL to have never won the wooden spoon. I never would've thought we'd be in the position we're in right now fighting to keep away from a wooden spoon. Demountables and rusty bar bells at Narrabeen, and a head office exuding all the professionalism of the Federal Liberal Party. In season 2009 the Sydney Roosters finished last, winning just five games, however conjured a remarkable turnaround on and off the field to make the Grand final the following season. Of course, we all want other teams to lose, but when your great moment of NRL ecstasy for the weekend is some other team being even more hapless than yours, you need to take a hard look at yourself and maybe listen to those who say it doesn’t matter. They are the only current pre-1995 club to have avoided the wooden spoon. With four rounds remaining in the Telstra Premiership regular season, the battle to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon is on. "We won't win the wooden spoon, I'll tell you that right now," Turpin told reporters in Brisbane. As of 2020, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles have avoided the wooden spoon in their 71 completed seasons since entering the competition in 1947. This page details first-grade rugby league records from the National Rugby League (1998-) … is 2018 the year? Only the Port Adelaide Power have never won the Wooden Spoon. Malcolm Knox is a journalist, author and columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald. Banned from academia, the spoon escaped into the sporting world. "We're not talking about it," they say, being too tough to bare their fears. But it's not fun. One of the first instances the term being used was in 2011 when the Parramatta Eels and the Gold Coast Titans played against each other in the final match of the regular season with the loser receiving the wooden spoon. OPINION: As the end-of-NRL-season tension ratchets up, those who are concerned about your mental welfare might tell you that the wooden spoon … The captain and crew steam ahead, apparently oblivious to the danger ahead. With a flying sea eagle as its logo, the club has entered 17 finals and has won 8 out of it. North Queensland won the match 44-6 in Townsville which was also Johnathan Thurston's final home game before retirement, the match was also Matt Scott's 250th game. Only 2 sides have won the premiership within 2 years of coming last, first the Panthers in 2003, then the Sharks in 2016. ^ - The Melbourne Storm were forced to finish last in 2010 (stripped of all points) as a result of a salary cap breach uncovered earlier in the season. 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