Under the British system, the bottom four Super League teams and the top four Championship teams are placed in a separate competition in which the three highest finishing teams are guaranteed places in Super League next season, while the teams who finish fourth and fifth play off for one remaining berth in a match expected to generate massive interest.

The match is one of the few occasions two teams have played each other in the last round to determine who finishes last and the added interest in "spoon bowl" has provided a glimpse into how the promotion-relegation system works in Super League, with two teams set to play off next month in a match known as the Million Pound Game.

After the Tigers' 50-16 thrashing of the Warriors at Campbelltown, Penrith and Newcastle will battle to avoid the wooden spoon and Knights winger Nathan Ross admitted:: "We are treating it as a grand final for us. I'm sure the Panthers are doing the same."

In comparison, the Knights have this season conceded 582 points and scored 446 for a -136 point differential, while the Panthers have a differential of -96 points and the differential for the Tigers is -73 points.

Newcastle also finished last on 20 points in 2005, but that was when there were 15 teams before the admission of Gold Coast. The Knights also had a differential of -200 points after conceding 667 points in defence.

With so much at stake, clubs have been sacking coaches and recruiting players in a bid to avoid relegation or earn promotion and if the ladder remains as it currently is the "Million Pound Game" will be fought out between two teams whose fortunes are being guided by Brian Smith and Tim Sheens in fourth-placed Wakefield and fifth-placed Salford.

​Some believe the State Championship grand final between the winners of the NSW and Queensland Cup competitions could become a play-off for promotion to the NRL but McCallum, who worked for the RFL between 1994 and 2002, said the positives were outweighed by the negatives.

"I am not in favour of relegation, I think too much money is spent trying to avoid it," McCallum said. "We had one year in which I did a report for the RFL and there was about $2 million spent by two clubs to avoid relegation because they sacked their coach, put a new coach on and then all that happens out of it is the players rotate from the club that gets relegated to the team that gets promoted.

"They basically become the same players at a different club because other players don't go to them, it is just the players who have been displaced. They say there are parachute payments but it doesn't wash with fans and it doesn't wash with the sponsors so once you are gone, you are gone."

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