While the race for the top-eight and NRL premiership is as exciting as ever, the battle to avoid the wooden spoon is set to come down to the wire in 2023.
Wests Tigers are stranded on just 12 competition points with five rounds remaining, after dropping a crucial Round 21 clash against the St. George Illawarra Dragons.
Three games ahead of them are Canterbury, who gave themselves some breathing room in Round 22 with a narrow victory over the Dolphins.
The Sporting News has all the latest on the NRL wooden spoon race prior to Round 23 below.
17th – Wests Tigers (12 points, -213)
Byes remaining: 0
It’s going to take a big effort for the Tigers to avoid their second-straight wooden spoon, with the struggling club using all three of their byes prior to their Round 20 defeat to the Knights and only winning three games all season.
Their Round 21 loss to the Dragons likely…