List of Australian Football League wooden spoons

Last updated April 18, 2019

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.

A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team who/which has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events. The term is of British origin and has spread to other Commonwealth countries outside North America.

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body, and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game. The league was founded as the Victorian Football League (VFL) as a breakaway from the previous Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing in 1897. Originally comprising only teams based in the Australian state of Victoria, the competition's name was changed to the Australian Football League for the 1990 season, after expanding to other states throughout the 1980s.

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 war-time season of 1916, only four teams (Carlton, Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond) competed. 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 claim the premiership.

There is hence some uncertainty regarding which team should lay claim to the wooden spoon in that season; 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".

A minor premiership is the name of the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the playoffs in several Australian sports leagues.

The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, to determine the Australian Football League (AFL) premiers for that year. The game has become significant to Australian culture, spawning a number of traditions and surrounding activities which have grown in popularity since the interstate expansion of the Victorian Football League in the 1980s and the subsequent creation of the national AFL competition in the 1990s. The 2006 Sweeney Sports Report concluded that the AFL Grand Final has become Australia's most important sporting event, with the largest attendance, metropolitan television audience and overall interest of any annual Australian sporting event.

The official AFL season guide recognises Richmond as the wooden spooners for the 1916 VFL season.

Records

St Kilda has won the most wooden spoons of any existing AFL team, with 27; its most recent wooden spoon was in 2014.
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 only 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 was 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.
St Kilda, Hawthorn, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney all won the wooden spoon in their inaugural season in the VFL/AFL.
- Further, Greater Western Sydney also won the inaugural AFL Women's wooden spoon with only one win and a draw from seven matches played.
The Greater Western Sydney Giants, nicknamed the GWS Giants or just Giants, is a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). Representing the Greater Western Sydney area and Canberra, the club is based at the Tom Wills Oval in Sydney Olympic Park. The team's primary home ground is Spotless Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park. Four games a year are played at Manuka Oval in Canberra as part of a deal with the government of the Australian Capital Territory.
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league began in February 2017 with 8 teams, expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, and will expand to 14 teams in the 2020 season. The league is run by the Australian Football League (AFL) and is contested by a subset of clubs from that competition. The reigning premiers are the Adelaide Crows.
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.
The Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide are the only teams to have not yet "won" 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.

The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Melbourne, the club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the competition's eight founding member clubs in 1897.

The 1907 Victorian Football League season was the 11th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

The 1908 Victorian Football League season was the 12th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

Wooden spoons by season

Season	Wooden spoon	Wins	Losses	Draws	Percentage	Points
1897	St Kilda	0	14	0	29.1	0
1898	St Kilda	0	14	0	33.5	0
1899	St Kilda	0	14	0	28.0	0
1900	St Kilda	1	13	0	39.1	4
1901	St Kilda	1	16	0	–	4
1902	St Kilda	0	17	0	–	0
1903	South Melbourne	2	15	0	–	8
1904	St Kilda	3	14	0	–	12
1905	Melbourne	3	14	0	–	12
1906	Melbourne	1	16	0	–	4
1907	Essendon	5	12	0	–	20
1908	Geelong	2	16	0	–	8
1909	St Kilda	2	15	0	59.3	8
1910	St Kilda	1	17	0	62.3	4
1911	University	1	17	0	52.1	4
1912	University	1	17	0	57.0	4
1913	University	0	18	0	57.6	0
1914	University	0	18	0	47.0	0
1915	Geelong	3	13	0	68.0	12
1916 Minor 1916 Major	Fitzroy Richmond	2 5	9 7	1 0	81.6 89.9	10 20
1917	Richmond	3	11	1	–	14
1918	Essendon	3	11	0	64.2	12
1919	Melbourne	0	16	0	43.0	0
1920	St Kilda	2	14	0	57.2	8
1921	Essendon	3	11	2	80.8	16
1922	South Melbourne	4	11	1	91.3	18
1923	Melbourne	3	13	0	80.4	12
1924	St Kilda	4	12	0	75.7	16
1925	Hawthorn	3	14	0	66.1	12
1926	North Melbourne	0	17	1	73.7	2
1927	Hawthorn	1	17	0	63.1	4
1928	Hawthorn	0	18	0	61.6	0
1929	North Melbourne	1	17	0	60.2	4
1930	North Melbourne	1	17	0	51.8	4
1931	North Melbourne	0	18	0	50.8	0
1932	Hawthorn	3	15	0	64.1	12
1933	Essendon	2	16	0	77.1	12
1934	North Melbourne	0	18	0	66.4	0
1935	North Melbourne	1	17	0	65.1	4
1936	Fitzroy	2	16	0	68.9	8
1937	North Melbourne	3	15	0	64.2	12
1938	South Melbourne	2	16	0	71.8	8
1939	South Melbourne	3	15	0	70.8	12
1940	North Melbourne	4	14	0	75.1	16
1941	Hawthorn	3	15	0	68.2	12
1942	Hawthorn	1	14	0	65.6	8
1943	St Kilda	1	8	1	73.9	10
1944	Geelong	1	17	0	58.6	4
1945	St Kilda	2	18	0	62.2	8
1946	Hawthorn	3	16	0	70.5	12
1947	St Kilda	1	17	1	58.7	6
1948	St Kilda	2	17	0	59.9	8
1949	Hawthorn	3	16	0	61.1	12
1950	Hawthorn	0	18	0	49.8	0
1951	Melbourne	1	17	0	70.5	4
1952	St Kilda	2	17	0	68.1	8
1953	Hawthorn	3	15	0	68.5	12
1954	St Kilda	4	13	1	72.7	18
1955	St Kilda	1	17	0	45.4	4
1956	North Melbourne	3	16	0	69.5	12
1957	Geelong	5	12	1	88.2	22
1958	Geelong	4	14	0	73.8	16
1959	Footscray	3	15	0	73.3	12
1960	Richmond	2	14	2	65.1	12
1961	North Melbourne	4	13	1	79.1	18
1962	South Melbourne	3	15	0	74.4	12
1963	Fitzroy	1	17	0	57.5	4
1964	Fitzroy	0	18	0	59.7	0
1965	Hawthorn	4	14	0	68.9	16
1966	Fitzroy	1	17	0	53.8	4
1967	Footscray	4	14	0	71.8	16
1968	North Melbourne	3	17	0	74.3	12
1969	Melbourne	3	17	0	83.1	12
1970	North Melbourne	4	18	0	79.1	16
1971	South Melbourne	3	19	0	69.9	12
1972	North Melbourne	1	21	0	62.9	4
1973	South Melbourne	4	18	0	79.0	16
1974	Melbourne	3	19	0	77.1	12
1975	South Melbourne	2	20	0	75.0	8
1976	Collingwood	6	16	0	86.4	24
1977	St Kilda	3	17	2	73.5	16
1978	Melbourne	5	17	0	69.1	20
1979	St Kilda	3	19	0	65.0	12
1980	Fitzroy	4	17	1	86.0	18
1981	Melbourne	1	21	0	63.5	4
1982	Footscray	3	19	0	68.1	12
1983	St Kilda	5	17	0	79	20
1984	St Kilda	5	17	0	76	20
1985	St Kilda	3	19	0	64.7	12
1986	St Kilda	2	20	0	71.9	8
1987	Richmond	5	17	0	83	20
1988	St Kilda	4	18	0	82	16
1989	Richmond	5	17	0	71	20
1990	Brisbane Bears	4	18	0	71	16
1991	Brisbane Bears	3	19	0	70	12
1992	Sydney	3	18	1	74	14
1993	Sydney	1	19	0	63	4
1994	Sydney	4	18	0	78	16
1995	Fitzroy	2	20	0	58.2	8
1996	Fitzroy	1	21	0	49.5	4
1997	Melbourne	4	18	0	60.8	16
1998	Brisbane Lions	5	16	1	75	22
1999	Collingwood	4	18	0	84.8	16
2000	St Kilda	2	19	1	70.5	10
2001	Fremantle	2	20	0	72.0	8
2002	Carlton	3	19	0	73.1	12
2003	Western Bulldogs	3	18	1	74.8	14
2004	Richmond	4	18	0	69.2	16
2005	Carlton	4	17	1	75.5	18
2006	Carlton	3	18	1	74.2	14
2007	Richmond	3	18	1	77.2	14
2008	Melbourne	3	19	0	62.6	12
2009	Melbourne	4	18	0	74.7	16
2010	West Coast	4	18	0	77.1	16
2011	Gold Coast	3	19	0	56.27	12
2012	Greater Western Sydney	2	20	0	46.17	8
2013	Greater Western Sydney	1	21	0	50.97	4
2014	St Kilda	4	18	0	60.8	16
2015	Carlton	4	18	0	64.8	16
2016	Essendon	3	19	0	61	12
2017	Brisbane Lions	5	17	0	74.3	20
2018	Carlton	2	20	0	59.3	8

Wooden spoon tally

Club	Total 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*, 1936, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1980, 1995, 1996
Richmond	7*	1916*, 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
Greater Western Sydney	2	2012, 2013
Fremantle	1	2001
West Coast Eagles	1	2010
Gold Coast	1	2011
Port Adelaide	0	N/A
Adelaide	0	N/A

current clubs are shown in bold

* See 1916 explanation above

Longest wooden spoon droughts

Club	Time period	Years
Carlton	1897–2002	105
Essendon	1933–2016	83
Collingwood	1897–1976	79
Geelong	1958–present	60
Hawthorn	1965–present	53
North Melbourne	1972–present	46
Richmond	1917–1960	43
Fitzroy	1897–1936¹	39
Footscray	1925–1959	34

¹ See discussion on 1916 wooden spoon.

Active wooden spoon droughts

Club	Last won	Years since
Geelong	1958	60
Hawthorn	1965	53
North Melbourne	1972	46
Adelaide	never^{[lower-alpha 1]}	27
Sydney	1994	24
Port Adelaide	never^{[lower-alpha 2]}	21
Collingwood	1999	19
Fremantle	2001	17
Western Bulldogs	2003	15
Richmond	2007	11
Melbourne	2009	9
West Coast	2010	8
Gold Coast	2011	7
Greater Western Sydney	2013	5
St Kilda	2014	4
Essendon	2016	2
Brisbane Lions	2017	1
Carlton	2018	0

Droughts are as of end of the 2018 season.

AFL Women's

Season	Wooden spoon	Wins	Losses	Draws	Percentage	Points
2017	Greater Western Sydney	1	5	1	51.8	6
2018	Carlton	2	5	0	54.1	8

References and Notes

↑ Joined competition in 1991
↑ Joined competition in 1997

External links

AFL Wooden Spoon Awardees

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