List of VFL/AFL wooden spoons

The wooden spoon is the imaginary and ironic "award" which is said to be won by the team finishing in last place in the Australian Football League. No physical wooden spoon award exists, other than those brought by opposition fans to taunt struggling teams, nor is such an award officially sanctioned by the VFL/AFL. However, most betting agencies will take wagers on the wooden spoon.

Criteria

The team which finishes on the bottom of the ladder wins the wooden spoon. This is determined by:

  • Fewest premiership points (four points for a win, two points for a draw)
  • Lowest percentage (the ratio of points for to points against if on same numbers of points)

No countback exists if teams finish equal on points but with a different number of wins.

1901–1907

From 1901–1907, the VFL season was set up such that each team played fourteen regular season games: two games against each opponent. Based upon regular season ladder positions, teams were divided into pools A (1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th) and B (2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th), and each team played the opponents from its pool once each in the "sectional round."

Following the sectional round, the results of these matches were added to the ladder to give a final ladder based on seventeen matches per team. As such, the wooden spooner is considered to be the team which finishes last after all seventeen matches.

The three sectional games changed the outcome of the wooden spoon twice in the seven seasons of this format: in 1905, St Kilda beat Geelong in their last game, relegating Melbourne to last, and in 1907, Fitzroy won all three of their games, relegating Essendon to last.

1916

In the 1916, only four teams (Carlton, Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond) competed due to World War I. Fitzroy finished last after the home-and-away season with a record of 2–9–1 (10 pts), and Richmond finished third with a record of 5–7–0 (20 pts).

All four teams competed in the finals under the amended Argus system in place at the time. Richmond lost their Semi-Final and finished in overall last place as the lowest placed Semi-Final loser, while Fitzroy won their Semi-Final, the Final and the Grand Final to win the premiership.

This has created uncertainty to some extent regarding which team lays claim to the 1916 wooden spoon; by analogy with the minor and major premierships, it could be said that Fitzroy won the "minor wooden spoon" and Richmond won the "major wooden spoon".

The official AFL Season Guide recognises Richmond as the wooden spooners for the 1916 VFL season, while the Football Record in 1917-1923 listed the teams' positions for 1916 as Fitzroy, Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond.

Records
  • St Kilda has won the most wooden spoons of any existing AFL team, with 27. Its most recent wooden spoon came in 2014.
    • This is followed up by North Melbourne, with 13 wooden spoons. Its most recent was in 1972.
  • Carlton has the longest wooden spoon drought in VFL/AFL history, and was the last of the foundation clubs to win a wooden spoon. Its first wooden spoon came in 2002, the club's 106th season of VFL/AFL competition. Despite this, they currently have the most wooden spoons in the 21st century with five.
  • Collingwood has won the least wooden spoons of the foundation clubs, with two.
  • Essendon and Collingwood are the only teams to follow up a wooden spoon with a Grand Final appearance, in 1907–08 and 1976–77 respectively. Neither were victorious.
  • Essendon holds the record for the swiftest rise from wooden spoon to premiership, two seasons: they finished last in 1921 and won back-to-back premierships in 1923–24.
  • Melbourne and Fitzroy hold the record for the swiftest descent from premiership to wooden spoon, three seasons: Melbourne finished last in 1951 after winning the premiership in 1948, and Fitzroy laid partial claim to the 1916 wooden spoon after winning the premiership in 1913.
  • Fitzroy were the only team to win both a wooden spoon and a premiership in the same season; due to World War I, the VFL competition featured only four teams, all of which competed in the finals. Fitzroy finished last on the ladder, but performed strongly in the finals and defeated Carlton to win the premiership.
  • St Kilda, Hawthorn, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney all won the wooden spoon in their inaugural season in the VFL/AFL.
  • Collingwood in 1976 holds the record for the most wins by a wooden spooner with six.
  • Thirteen wooden spooners failed to win a match during the season, the most recent being Fitzroy in 1964.
  • The highest percentage recorded by a wooden spoon team was by South Melbourne, with 91.3% in 1922.
  • Port Adelaide is the only team to have not yet been awarded a wooden spoon.
  • Melbourne in 1997 is the first (and currently only) wooden spoon team to win both their first and last matches of the home-and-away season.
  • Carlton are the first (and currently only) team to have both their men's and women's teams win the wooden spoon in the same season, which occurred in 2018.

Wooden spoons by season
SeasonWooden spoonWinsLossesDrawsPercentagePoints
1897St Kilda014029.10
1898St Kilda014033.50
1899St Kilda014028.00
1900St Kilda113039.14
1901St Kilda1160–4
1902St Kilda0170–0
1903South Melbourne2150–8
1904St Kilda3140–12
1905Melbourne3140–12
1906Melbourne1160–4
1907Essendon5120–20
1908Geelong2160–8
1909St Kilda215059.38
1910St Kilda117062.34
1911University117052.14
1912University117057.04
1913University018057.60
1914University018047.00
1915Geelong313068.012
1916 Minor
1916 Major[1]		Fitzroy
Richmond		2
5		9
7		1
0		81.6
89.9		10
20
1917Richmond3111–14
1918Essendon311064.212
1919Melbourne016043.00
1920St Kilda214057.28
1921Essendon311280.816
1922South Melbourne411191.318
1923Melbourne313080.412
1924St Kilda412075.716
1925Hawthorn314066.112
1926North Melbourne017173.72
1927Hawthorn117063.14
1928Hawthorn018061.60
1929North Melbourne117060.24
1930North Melbourne117051.84
1931North Melbourne018050.80
1932Hawthorn315064.112
1933Essendon216077.112
1934North Melbourne018066.40
1935North Melbourne117065.14
1936Fitzroy216068.98
1937North Melbourne315064.212
1938South Melbourne216071.88
1939South Melbourne315070.812
1940North Melbourne414075.116
1941Hawthorn315068.212
1942Hawthorn114065.68
1943St Kilda18173.910
1944Geelong117058.64
1945St Kilda218062.28
1946Hawthorn316070.512
1947St Kilda117158.76
1948St Kilda217059.98
1949Hawthorn316061.112
1950Hawthorn018049.80
1951Melbourne117070.54
1952St Kilda217068.18
1953Hawthorn315068.512
1954St Kilda413172.718
1955St Kilda117045.44
1956North Melbourne316069.512
1957Geelong512188.222
1958Geelong414073.816
1959Footscray315073.312
1960Richmond214265.112
1961North Melbourne413179.118
1962South Melbourne315074.412
1963Fitzroy117057.54
1964Fitzroy018059.70
1965Hawthorn414068.916
1966Fitzroy117053.84
1967Footscray414071.816
1968North Melbourne317074.312
1969Melbourne317083.112
1970North Melbourne418079.116
1971South Melbourne319069.912
1972North Melbourne121062.94
1973South Melbourne418079.016
1974Melbourne319077.112
1975South Melbourne220075.08
1976Collingwood616086.424
1977St Kilda317273.516
1978Melbourne517069.120
1979St Kilda319065.012
1980Fitzroy417186.018
1981Melbourne121063.54
1982Footscray319068.112
1983St Kilda51707920
1984St Kilda51707620
1985St Kilda319064.712
1986St Kilda220071.98
1987Richmond51708320
1988St Kilda41808216
1989Richmond51707120
1990Brisbane Bears41807116
1991Brisbane Bears31907012
1992Sydney31817414
1993Sydney1190634
1994Sydney41807816
1995Fitzroy220058.28
1996Fitzroy121049.54
1997Melbourne418060.816
1998Brisbane Lions51617522
1999Collingwood418084.816
2000St Kilda219170.510
2001Fremantle220072.08
2002Carlton319073.112
2003Western Bulldogs318174.814
2004Richmond418069.216
2005Carlton417175.518
2006Carlton318174.214
2007Richmond318177.214
2008Melbourne319062.612
2009Melbourne418074.716
2010West Coast418077.116
2011Gold Coast319056.2712
2012Greater Western Sydney220046.178
2013Greater Western Sydney121050.974
2014St Kilda418060.816
2015Carlton418064.816
2016Essendon31906112
2017Brisbane Lions517074.320
2018Carlton220059.38
2019Gold Coast319060.512
2020Adelaide314064.412

Wooden spoons by club
ClubTotal
Wooden
Spoons		Years of Wooden Spoon
St Kilda
27
1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1904, 1909, 1910, 1920, 1924, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 2000, 2014
North Melbourne
13
1926, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1940, 1956, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1972
Melbourne
12
1905, 1906, 1919, 1923, 1951, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1981, 1997, 2008, 2009
Hawthorn
11
1925, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1965
South Melbourne/Sydney
11
1903, 1922, 1938, 1939, 1962, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1992, 1993, 1994
Fitzroy
8
1916,[1] 1936, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1980, 1995, 1996
Richmond
7
1916,[1] 1917, 1960, 1987, 1989, 2004, 2007
Carlton
5
2002, 2005, 2006, 2015, 2018
Essendon
5
1907, 1918, 1921, 1933, 2016*
Geelong
5
1908, 1915, 1944, 1957, 1958
University
4
1911, 1912, 1913, 1914
Footscray/Western Bulldogs
4
1959, 1967, 1982, 2003
Brisbane Bears
2
1990, 1991
Brisbane Lions
2
1998, 2017
Collingwood
2
1976, 1999
Gold Coast
2
2011, 2019
Greater Western Sydney
2
2012, 2013
Fremantle
1
2001
West Coast Eagles
1
2010
Adelaide
1
2020
Port Adelaide
0
N/A

Bold indicates clubs currently playing in the AFL.

* indicates Essendon had 34 players suspended for the season for use of banned substance.

Longest wooden spoon droughts
Club Time period Years
Carlton 1897–2002 105
Essendon 1933–2016 83
Collingwood 1897–1976 79
Geelong 1958–present 61
Hawthorn 1965–present 54
North Melbourne 1972–present 47
Richmond 1917–1960 43
Fitzroy 1897–1936[lower-alpha 1] 39
Footscray 1925–1959 34
Adelaide 1991–2020 29

Active wooden spoon droughts
Club Last won Years since
Geelong 1958 62
Hawthorn 1965 55
North Melbourne 1972 48
Sydney 1994 26
Port Adelaide never[lower-alpha 2] 23
Collingwood 1999 21
Fremantle 2001 19
Western Bulldogs 2003 17
Richmond 2007 13
Melbourne 2009 11
West Coast 2010 10
Greater Western Sydney 2013 7
St Kilda 2014 6
Essendon 2016 4
Brisbane Lions 2017 3
Carlton 2018 2
Gold Coast 2019 1
Adelaide 2020 0

References and Notes
  1. 1916 season
  1. Assumes Richmond won the wooden spoon in 1916.
  2. Joined competition in 1997
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