Dragons dabbling with wooden spoon

While NRL punters have been talking about the Penrith Panthers and Newcastle Knights as the 2007 NRL wooden spoon contenders; many have forgotten all about the St George Illawarra Dragons and the very real possibility they could claim Rugby League's most unwanted award.

The merged entity that is the St George Illawarra Dragons have never collected the wooden spoon and certainly don't want to blemish their young but impressive record. Our statistics here at NRL News show the Dragons last collected the wooden spoon in 1938 as a stand alone club, only twice before this getting the spoon in 1922, 1926 - we are getting our good friend David Middleton to confirm these stats, as certain Dragons supporters have stated strongly they have never won the spoon in their long history.

The Dragons face the Eels in Monday Night NRL in this Round and next week they face heavyweights Manly in their final appearance for 2007. Already without Jason Ryles, the Dragons are facing a tough task against two top line teams.

In comparison, the Knights face the inconsistent Wests Tigers next week - they simply need to win, as their points difference is the worst of all spoon contenders and a loss would hand them the embarrassing prize. The Panthers are hosting the Warriors at Penrith - their recent form and the fact it's a farewell game for several Panthers players - mean emotion will help them possibly upset the high flying NZ side.

So not only will there be plenty of interest in the final NRL Top 8 order, there will be a tonne of punters and fans watching intently to see who collects the spoon.