Rejuvenated Wests Tigers half-back Robbie Farah says it will be 'embarrassing and unacceptable' if his side fails to reach the play-offs for a third straight year.
After helping reignite his team's finals campaign with a starring role in Sunday's 36-12 over Souths at ANZ Stadium, Farah demanded the Tigers used that performance as the benchmark to avoid another late-season fade out.
Since winning the 2005 premiership, the Tigers sat out the finals in '06 and '07 and were on the brink of another early departure before demolishing the Rabbitohs.
They now sit one point outside the top eight with seven rounds left.
"At the end of the day it's unacceptable to miss the semis three years in a row," Farah told Sportal.
"If we miss the semis again it will be pretty embarrassing."
"As individuals we're better than that. It hurts and hopefully it doesn't happen again."
"It's a pretty crucial seven weeks coming up for us and we'll do everything we can to get there."
When it was suggested some players had lost their hunger after the success of '05, Farah responded: "When you win a grand final it makes you more hungry to win another one."
"It's the best night of your life and that's why it hurts so much (to miss the finals)."
"You're watching semi-final football and you're cringing at the thought that you were there one day and now you're sitting at home on your lounge watching it on the TV."
"For me, winning the comp only made me want to win another one."
The Tigers showed glimpses of that stellar 2005 season as they ran the Rabbitohs ragged with some brilliant running rugby league.
The visitors scored seven tries to two to all but end Souths' surge to the top eight and reinvigorate their own campaign.
"We knew it was pretty desperate for us. It was a make or break game," Farah, who was brilliant in the unaccustomed role of half-back, conceded.
"I think we showed up showing that desperation."
"We took a lot out of last week (against Melbourne) even though we lost the game and we followed it up this week."
Farah revealed the Tigers had made a deal with each other to go all out over the last two months of the competition in a bid to break their finals drought.
"We think we've been a bit flat of 1ate and we've made a pact to really show up every game and play for each other," he said
"Regardless of the results over the last eight or nine games of the year, we promised each other we'd show up with enthusiasm and energy."
"We had a huddle at the end of the game and said 'make sure we show up like this next week'."
"We've got seven weeks to build some momentum and hopefully get ourselves back in contention."
"At the moment we're out of it but if we keep playing like that we're going to win some games."