Why the “Spoonbowl” should become a regular NRL fixture

A well-known NRL journalist has put his support behind the “Spoonbowl” happening each year as hype continues to build for the clash between the Wests Tigers and Parramatta Eels with last place on the ladder up for grabs.

The match-up between the Tigers and Eels at Campbelltown on Friday has been dubbed the “Spoonbowl” with each team fighting to avoid collecting the wooden spoon.

But the meeting is anything but a dead rubber with the stadium selling out and AAP’s Scott Bailey said it should become a regular fixture in the NRL season.

“Obviously the Dolphins and the Knights is the biggest game this weekend, there’s no question about that, but this game probably runs second in terms of interest,” he said on SEN 1170 Mornings.

“We’ve kind of been hyping it up for about a month now, saying will we get a SpoonBowl or won’t we, we haven’t had a proper one in nine years, 2015 was the last time we had one, I think it’s only the third since 1983.

“It just made me think, why can’t we do this every year?

“I don’t believe it’s something they’re going to do immediately but it’s worth the question isn’t it?”

Bailey said the fixture should be part of a wildcard weekend if the NRL introduces the idea when the league expands to 20 teams.

“There’ll be two matches that weekend, why not put a third one in and just make it the bottom two sides and they can playoff for the spoon and losers takes all,” he said.

“The other part of it is too, it would weirdly create a bit of interest down the bottom of the ladder towards the end of the regular season.

“Say we’ve got Souths playing Parramatta… you could say ‘well if Souths win this they’re out of Spoonbowl contention’ or something like that. “Something a bit different.”

The Tigers and Eels will clash at 6pm on Friday night.