THEY started the season with high hopes of challenging for a top-four spot, but now the Newcastle Knights face a dogfight to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon, starting on Sunday when they host the equally desperate Canterbury at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Competition leaders after winning their first two games of the season, the Knights have since lost 13 of their past 16 games to slide to 14th rung on the ladder.
They are equal on wins with Canterbury and the Warriors but boast the worst points differential in the NRL (minus-224).
Only Wests Tigers and Gold Coast (three wins apiece) lie below Newcastle, and the Knights play the former next week and the latter in a month.
With six games remaining - and skipper Kalyn Ponga sidelined indefinitely with concussion - there are growing concerns that Newcastle are in danger of finishing in the competition cellar for the first time since 2017.
The Knights collected their third straight wooden spoon at the end of that season, and players such as Dane Gagai, Daniel and Jacob Saifiti and Mitch Barnett - who were involved in those lean years - presumably have no desire to relive the experience.
Knights coach Adam O'Brien insisted on Friday that despite being out of finals contention, there was "still plenty to play for", but he said the worst-case scenario had not featured in discussions.
"The honest answer is we haven't spoken about the wooden spoon," O'Brien said.
"I do get the feeling there's enough fear, or anxiety, based on results in this team.
"There's been a number of games where, towards the back end, we've tensed up and really focused on results.
"So I don't talk to them about wooden spoons. Again, you're thinking about the result there.
"We've just got to get our processes right, and we've got an opportunity from now until the back end of the year to really fix some stuff that's a little bit ingrained in us."
O'Brien said his players were "really hurting" after failing to measure up to expectations but were determined to finish 2022 strongly and salvage some credibility.
"That is one thing we have spoken about," he said.
"The last chapter is not written.
"It's a pretty ordinary book at the moment, but we can fix it up with the ending.
"That's been our focus. But the No.1 focus for us right now needs to be this week.
"Then we'll get on with it. But as I said before, there's plenty to play for, and it is a chance to springboard us into next year, certainly."
O'Brien said that "every time we put those colours on, there's heaps to play for", regardless of where the Knights were placed on the points table.
Chief executive Philip Gardner said it was especially important for the Knights to perform strongly in their three remaining home fixtures, given that they have won only two of nine games in their own backyard this year.
"The motivation for players is not to let the fans down," Gardner said.
"Our fans have been absolutely fantastic.
"The majority of supporters have been rock-solid behind the team, but understandably they're disappointed about what has been dished up this year.
"That should be enough motivation for everybody."
The Knights have won their past three games against Canterbury, most recently an unconvincing 16-6 victory at Suncorp Stadium on May 13.
But the incumbent wooden spooners have rallied late in the season under interim coach Mick Potter, winning three of their past five games to climb off the bottom of the ladder.
The Bulldogs are odds-on favourites with TAB, which would have been unthinkable earlier in the year, during a horror run of 11 losses in 12 games.
