Benji Marshall insists Wests Tigers' much-dreaded "Spoon-bowl' battle with Parramatta can help the club in the long run, as the joint-venture attempt to avoid a third-straight last-placed finish.
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Friday night's match at Campbelltown is the Tigers' fastest-selling home game in years, with a packed house locked in almost a week in advance and the loser to take home the spoon.
The Tigers have not played in the finals since 2011, and this season also marks the first time they have had a battle in the final round to avoid last place.
Marshall wishes his team was not in the sold-out 'Spoon-bowl' blockbuster.
"I'd rather not be playing it to be honest," he said.
"It's a big game atmosphere for some of our young guys to experience what that is like, even though we are playing at the bottom of the table," he said.
"At the same time, when you have a season like we've had you need to assess where you're at and identify the things that probably need to be better."
Friday night also gives the Tigers a chance to record three straight wins, something the club has not done since 2018.
But there have at least been green shoots this season.
Wests Tigers have one of the youngest squads in the NRL, with the club playing 12 debutants this season.
Balmain junior Tony Sukkar will be another on Friday night, with the club having also blooded a number of their U17-premiership winning team from 2022.
"One thing that is clear to me is we want to build success long term, not just overnight," he said.
"Hence why we've taken this approach with our local juniors and not making knee-jerk signings to try and win now. It's about the long term.
"The experiences from this year will put us in better stead for next year but again some of these guys are not going to hit their peak for another three or four years.
"Some of the guys, what they're doing at 18 or 19, I couldn't have imagined doing that.
"When they turn 22 or 23, this education they're getting now is going to be invaluable."
The Tigers have lost veteran half Aidan Sezer for Friday's match, with Latu Fainu to partner fellow teenager Lachlan Galvin in the halves after the pair starred against Manly a week ago.
Newcastle are currently the only club to have achieved a spoon three-peat, finishing last through 2015-17.
"We will try and give our fans something to have positive talk about," he said.
"It's a long off season and all the fans will talk about either you won the spoon or you avoided the spoon."
Australian Associated Press
