Tigers young gun Lachlan Galvin admits Benji Marshall has spoken to his side of the importance of avoiding a third successive wooden spoon ahead of tonight’s Round 25 showdown with a red-hot Manly outfit.
Marshall’s men sit last but have made some inroads this season, some of which has to do with Galvin – who has been a light of hope to the Tigers faithful as the club strives to shake its tag as the NRL’s perennial cellar dwellers.
And they can take a significant step to do so tonight at their spiritual home of Leichhardt Oval as they attempt to claw their way up the ladder to avoid another last-placed finish.
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‘I think she’d be pretty chuffed’ | 01:11
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Saturday’s close win over South Sydney took the Tigers to within two points of 16th-placed Parramatta, with a Round 26 bye followed by their last round match-up against the Eels rounding out their season.
And with their final round match-up against the Eels posing as a possible ‘wooden spoon-off’, Galvin says he and his teammates are conscious of the significance of finishing 2024 above the bottom of the table.
“Benji spoke to us about this when we realised we had a chance not to get the spoon,” Galvin told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“You would have noticed how we have scrambled in defence the past few weeks. We don’t want that spoon. We’re not taking things easy.
“Being Benji’s first year, and the first year for a lot of us boys, it’s a massive motivation to avoid it.
“We’ve built really well this year. The results haven’t gone our way, but we’ve learned a lot that will help us next year.”
Tigers centre Adam Doueihi, who will miss the rest of 2024 to manage his recovery from his third ACL injury, said his team were determined to avoid the embarrassment of another wooden spoon.
“It’s not a good feeling having that next to your name,” he said.
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“To give ourselves the chance not to win it, it’s definitely a motivation behind having a strong finish to the season.”
Manly have been in strong form of late having won seven of their last 10 games to sit sixth on the ladder.
Sea Eagles coach Anthony Siebold said his side are refusing to take the Tigers lightly as they continue their hunt for a top four finish.
“We have a narrow focus on ourselves this week (with a) short turnaround again and we need to build to our best footy,” he said.
“We have made some really good strides over the past two months and I expect the Tigers to be at their best as well.
“I watched them against the Bunnies on Saturday night and I’m really impressed with some of their younger players like Heath Mason at the back and Lachlan Galvin has been a shining light for those guys.
“They have some real good players who have played rep footy like (Api) Koroisau, (David) Klemmer and Stefano (Utoikamanu) so we are going there expecting the Tigers to be at their best but it comes back to how we turn up to play.”
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