Parramatta's long history of finishing last on the ladder will serve as motivation as the Eels fight to avoid another wooden spoon in their match against Wests Tigers.
But as the Eels prepare for their last game before new coach Jason Ryles takes charge, star five-eighth Dylan Brown is remaining coy on his long-term career plans.
The equation is simple for the NRL season's biggest battlers at Campbelltown Stadium this Friday night: win and avoid a last-placed finish.
Parramatta and Wests Tigers enter the game on six wins from 23 matches, having produced their best football of disappointing campaigns in the weeks since the State of Origin series.
The Tigers are at risk of becoming only the second team of the NRL era to claim three consecutive wooden spoons after Newcastle from 2015-17.
But for Parramatta, whose 14 wooden spoons is the most of any active NRL team, the motivation is different.
"It's massive," five-eighth Dylan Brown said of the game's importance.
"Parramatta's already got enough wooden spoons, we don't need another one.
"Everyone remembers first, everyone remembers second. It's the same with the wooden spoon. Everyone remembers the wooden spoon, no one remembers second-last.
"We're lucky the Dolphins have joined (in 2023) because there's one extra team so that's an extra chance to not come last. But everyone remembers last. We don't want that."
Not since 2015 has the last round of the regular season featured a game that would determine which of its two contestants would finish bottom.
On that occasion, Penrith recorded an 18-point win to hand the Knights their second wooden spoon and avoid the unwanted award themselves.
The hype around the upcoming "spoon bowl" has not been lost on Brown.
"('Spoon bowl') is a bit of a piss-take, really," he said.
"We didn't expect to be last. I don't think any team expects to be last.
"You have a great pre-season and string together a few good games, (then) when you're just not winning games it's very frustrating.
"It's a bit of a piss-take but we're going to go out there and do our best to win."
The Eels are bracing for roster turnover in their first off-season since Ryles was named head coach in July.
Brown's Eels contract officially expires at the end of 2025 but contains clauses permitting him to remain in blue and gold until the end of 2031.
Long rated as key to the Eels' future, the New Zealand five-eighth has been buoyed by conversations with the incoming coach.
But the 24-year-old has not publicly confirmed if he intends to play with the Eels beyond next season.
"I look at it one year at a time. I've seen Rylsey and heard what he's got to say about next year," Brown said.
"Honestly, he gave me goosebumps listening to what he was talking about. He's really passionate, he's really keen and obviously it's his first chance to be a head coach in the NRL.
"I'm really excited for him, I'm really excited for the club. It'll just be good to see how we go as a new team."
