AFL 2025 Least Wins Wooden Spoon Betting – Odds, Tips & Predictions

It was largely expected to be a race in three for the Wooden Spoon, with each of the Tigers, Eagles and Kangaroos tipped to again occupy the lower reaches of the AFL ladder. Those three have remained comfortably at the bottom of the pack – or top, when it comes to this market – but their order has dramatically changed over the first couple of months of the season. A couple of wins to the Tigers has seen their expectations rise slightly, while the Kangaroos may not have improved as much as expected and the Eagles…well, the less said the better. Those three are the runaway favourites and the ignominious winner of the Wooden Spoon will more than likely come from the trio, but on this page we will look at those three as well as a few others with a very outside chance of ending up towards the bottom of the ladder at the end of this season.

Updated: 27th April 2025

Andrew McQualter’s induction into life as an official head coach was never going to be particularly easy, but he would have hoped for a slightly better start than what he has received. The Eagles have been a disaster for a few years now, and while they have given plenty of time to a lot of young kids in that time, they haven’t exactly unveiled a plethora of future stars. The path forward is not entirely clear for this once proud club, and their start to the season suggests that they won’t be making any major strides forward anytime soon – and certainly not this season.

Six games into the year they remained the only team without a win, and most of those losses were pretty bad ones. A 19-point defeat to the Lions and two-point loss to the Bombers were decent showings, but the other four they lost by an average of nearly 70 points. Adding further to their woes was a decent dosage of off-field drama when captain Oscar Allen was spotted chatting to the Hawks – something he is well within his rights to do but which brought plenty of unwanted attention to both he and the club. The Eagles are not the only bad team in the AFL, but they are already a couple of wins in arrears of their likely competitors for bottom spot, and with it hard to imagine them winning more than two or three games this season they may very well remain fixed to the bottom for the rest of the year.

• What brings them here? After winning the 2019 flag, the Eagles tumbled rapidly down the ladder in the ensuing years and haven’t been able to get off the bottom of it for some time.
  
• What has changed? Andrew Gaff retired, while Jack Darling and Luke Barrass were both traded. Liam Baker and Jack Graham come across from the Tigers, while Matt Owies was traded in from Carlton.
  
• Injury report. Dom Sheed is out for the year with an ACL, while the injury-prone Elliot Yeo is TBC with a knee and ankle. Campbell Chesser is out till likely late May with an ankle.

Bet on the Eagles to finish with the least wins @ $1.57 with PlayUp

The Tigers sold the farm for their future in the off-season, and who could blame them? Their dynasty was already well and truly finished and a number of their remaining Premiership stars wanted to return to their respective homes, so they let them and sent a few others packing for good measure. The return was a host of high picks in what was touted as a deep and talented draft, and the early signs have been really good with the likes of Sam Lalor and Luke Trainor slotting in seamlessly. They were never going to be good from the outset, but an incredibly surprising Round 1 win over the Blues and a defeat of the Suns a few weeks later have seen them quickly match their win total from last year, and exceed what many expected them to reach this year.

It's likely they will still put in numerous bad performances this year and their kids could easily tire as the year progresses, but so far they have been relatively consistent in their efforts. They’ve got close enough to some decent teams to suggest that they should be able to pick up a win here or there, and having already notched up a couple and with the Eagles really struggling, that would likely be enough for them to avoid finishing on the bottom of the ladder. That said, it’s no guarantee that they will continue to be as competitive as they had been and if they fall in a heap it would be no great surprise, but those two early wins might just see them dodge last spot.

• What brings them here? After three Premierships in four years, the Tigers have seen a mass exodus via retirement and trades over the past couple of years.
  
• What has changed? Plenty. Shai Bolton, Liam Baker, Daniel Rioli and Jack Graham were traded, while the great Dustin Martin retired alongside Dylan Grimes and Marlion Pickett. Coming in is a plethora of high draft picks; Sam Lalor, Josh Smillie, Taj Hotton, Jonty Faull, Harry Armstrong and Luke Trainor to name a few.
  
• Injury report. Mykelti Lefau and Tylar Young are expecting to be available from ACL injuries towards the middle of the year, though Josh Gibcus and Taj Hotton still have no timeline on theirs. Harry Armstrong is out for at least a couple of months with a bad hamstring, while concerningly, Dion Prestia has remained TBC with an Achilles throughout the first few weeks of the year.

Bet on the Tigers to finish with the least wins @ $4.50 with PlayUp

Like the Tigers, the Kangaroos have quite a lot to be optimistic about when it comes to their future, and having been glued to the bottom of the ladder for the past five years they are a little further along than their yellow and black counterparts – at least, they should be. With names like Harry Sheezel, Nick Larkey and George Wardlaw – to name just a few – very capable of having long and illustrious careers and already having a big impact now, they had good reason to expect to finally break the four-win barrier, something they haven’t been able to do this decade.

But a positive start which saw them win one and lose two competitively in their first three games is now a distant memory, with a bunch of thumpings that followed putting the heat right back on Alastair Clarkson and his team. A 36-point loss to the Crows gave way to a 65-point thumping by the Swans, after which they went down by 52 to the Suns and then 82 to the Blues. No longer do they have any excuse, either; they have the talent to be a lot more competitive that, but one win and a bunch of thumpings from their first six games was hardly the start they were after. Still, of the three bottom teams, they are the one with the most reason to expect a few more wins this season. They have been playing every bit like a Wooden Spoon team of late and with only one win from their first six games have not exactly put up a gap on the Eagles, but they should find some better form at some point in the year and win at least a handful of games.

• What brings them here? The Kangaroos have finished in the bottom two every year since 2020, but have reason to expect better this year.
  
• What has changed? Hugh Greenwood, Liam Shiels and Jaidyn Stephenson retired, while experienced trio Caleb Daniel, Luke Parker and Jack Darling were all traded in.
  
• Injury report. Callum Coleman-Jones is still around a month away, while Josh Goater, Zac Fisher and Matt Whitlock are due back around early May.

Bet on the Kangaroos to finish with the least wins @ $4.50 with PlayUp

After a disappointing 2024, the Demons were hoping that they would be able to bounce back this season, but their start to the year would suggest that their best days might be well and truly beyond them. The Dees lost their first five games in really poor fashion, with a tight three-point loss to the Giants being followed by four consecutive hefty defeats, including a 59-point loss to the Kangaroos. As it has long been, their problem was scoring in those games, failing to kick more than 74 points in any of their first five outings.

Finally, however, they broke the shackles in Round 6 against the Dockers, booting 16 goals en route to a solid 107-97 win against a finals quality team. They followed that up with a 20-point ANZAC Day Eve win against the Tigers, and though they were poor in the first half they ultimately would have won by a lot more had they not taken the foot off the gas with the game in the bag late in the final quarter. They might no longer be contenders, but with names like Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney and Max Gawn leading the way in the midfield, they should still be a hell of a lot better than the above three teams. Realistically they probably are, and despite their poor start should do more than enough to remain well away from bottom spot.

• What brings them here? Some off-season tumult and an aging list resulted in a disappointing 2024 for the Dees.
  
• What has changed? Ben Brown and Lachie Hunter retired, while Alex Neal-Bullen was traded. Harry Sharp comes in from Brisbane and Tom Campbell as a free agent.
  
• Injury report. Shane McAdam is out for the season with an Achilles injury and Andy Moniz-Wakefield with a knee. Jake Lever will be out until June with an ankle, while Marty Hore is due back a couple of weeks before that.

Bet on the Demons to finish with the least wins @ $20.00 with PlayUp

The remainder of the teams on this list are really rank outsiders in this market. The Blues, of course, are coming off consecutive finals appearances and for a time last year looked like the second best team in the league. But a woeful start to the season which saw them lose to the Tigers despite building a 41-point lead could hardly have been a worse start, and with three more losses in the next three weeks the monkey on their back only grew.

But aside from that loss to the Tigers, those defeats were all relatively close games against good teams, and lo and behold once their fixture opened up with games against the Eagles and North Melbourne, they switched into gear with back to back huge wins. The Blues are not without their problems – though they have numerous elite players, their lack of depth beyond their top few remains their Achilles heel – but having found a bit of form they will be hoping to push their way up the ladder towards the top eight, leaving the battle for the Wooden Spoon well and truly in the rearview mirror.

• What brings them here? Four consecutive losses to start the year wasn’t ideal, though they began to throw their weight around with two big wins after that.
  
• What has changed? Carlton traded Matt Kennedy and Matt Owies in the off-season, while their only pick-up outside of draftees and rookies was Nick Haynes.
  
• Injury report. Nic Newman will likely miss the season with a knee injury, as will first round draft pick Jagga Smith, as well as Brodie Kemp with an Achilles. Orazio Fantasia and Alex Cincotta are expected to be available early-mid May.

Bet on the Blues to finish with the least wins @ $176.00 with PlayUp

Nobody really had the Bombers pegged as a team capable of doing all that much damage this season, as they attempt to end a now 20-year finals-winning drought. A couple of big losses to start the season really got tongues wagging about whether they could even compete for the eight, but they bounced back strongly from that with a couple of good wins before just edging out the Eagles. A loss to the Magpies on ANZAC Day was to be expected, but while they are no world beaters they do at least have a few good young players joining the ranks.

The Bombers’ forward line is starting to look relatively dangerous with the likes of Peter Wright, Nate Caddy, Kyle Langford and Isaac Kako forming a really versatile attack, while they appear to have unearthed a couple of strong new defenders too in Zach Reid and Jaxon Prior. The Bombers probably aren’t going anywhere in a hurry and likely still need a bit of a list overhaul to get beyond the middle parts of the ladder, and while they might struggle even to get there this year, they should win close to ten games and not be anywhere near bottom spot.

• What brings them here? The Bombers have not won more than 12 games since 2013, and probably won’t go beyond that again this year.
  
• What has changed? Former captain Dyson Heppell has retired as has Jake Kelly, while Jake Stringer was traded to GWS.
  
• Injury report. Sam Draper is unfortunately out for the season with an Achilles as is Nick Bryan with a knee, while Darcy Parish remains frustratingly TBC with his calf. Jye Caldwell should return from a hamstring in early-mid May, and Nik Cox and Matt Guelfi a week or so earlier.

Bet on the Bombers to finish with the least wins @ $201.00 with PlayUp

In Ken Hinkley’s last year as head coach, the Power started really poorly, with a thumping loss to the Magpies and disappointing losses to the Bombers and Saints in the first month. But despite those defeats, this remains a team with plenty of talent on it, not least in a superb midfield boasting Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis. Though question marks have been raised for years over whether they are good enough to win a flag, they are clearly nowhere near a Wooden Spoon side.

They quickly showed that after that poor patch of form, with really impressive wins over first the undefeated Hawks and then the Swans in Sydney. Had they lost those two games – which seemed likely prior to them – they would have fallen to 1-5 and been in all sorts of trouble, but instead they evened their ledger at 3-3 with a home game against the Kangaroos to come, and appear to have got their bid for a finals and potentially top four spot back on track.

• What brings them here? The Power had a bad first month, but have since righted the ship.
  
• What has changed? The Bulldogs traded some good players in Caleb Daniel, Bailey Smith and Jack Macrae, while Matt Kennedy came in from Carlton.
  
• Injury report. Todd Marshall is out for an as yet undefined period with an Achilles injury, and Lukosius until late May/early June with a knee.

Bet on the Power to finish with the least wins @ $251.00 with PlayUp

The Saints are not unlike the Bombers in that they have been stuck around the middle parts of the AFL ladder for a few years without seeming to possess the potential to go up or down all that much, and this year may well be the same. A 63-point loss to the Crows was not an ideal way to start, but they bounced back with three strong wins in a row, only to lose to the Giants and then get pumped by the Bulldogs.

More than they used to, the Saints seem to have a decent enough ceiling which can make them competitive against good teams, but they also look slow and just generally not very good at times, as the Bulldogs can attest. Where exactly the Saints are heading is not entirely clear and they will probably struggle to make finals in a year with plenty of good teams, but they may well have already won enough games to avoid bottom spot and should be winning plenty more throughout the course of the season.

• What brings them here? The Saints have been stuck in AFL purgatory for years, and might remain there this year.
  
• What has changed? Josh Battle went to the Hawks as a free agent, while Brad Crouch retired. Jack Macrae was traded across from the Bulldogs.
  
• Injury report. Mattaes Phillipou and Dougal Howard will miss the first couple of months of the season, while each of Dan Butler, Max King and Liam Stocker should return in early-mid April.

Bet on the Saints to finish with the least wins @ $251.00 with PlayUp

Though a number of teams have been disappointing at times early in the season, realistically the race for bottom spot is down to two. In fact, with the Eagles seemingly so bad, it may be that only two or three wins is required to avoid the Wooden Spoon, something which many of the above teams have already achieved. The Tigers might struggle at times this year but have looked really plucky and already secured two wins, and while the Roos have looked dreadful they will surely show some form of improvement throughout the course of the year. There are not great odds for the Eagles to win the Wooden Spoon so early in the season, but given how bad they have looked and the fact that they have not yet won a game at the time of writing, they still look like the best bet.

Wooden Spoon teams that failed to win a match

• Thirteen wooden spoon teams failed to win a match during a VFL/AFL season, the most recent being Fitzroy in 1964.

Most Wooden Spoons Won

• 27 – St Kilda Saints, most recently in 2014.

Least Wooden Spoons Won

• Only the Port Adelaide Power have never won the Wooden Spoon. Ironically, the 21st century’s least successful club, the Carlton Blues, has won all 5 of their Wooden Spoons since 2002.

Most ‘successful’ Wooden Spoon team

• The 1976 Collingwood Magpies hold the record for the most wins by a wooden spoon team in a season with six wins.

AFL/AFLW Wooden Spoon ‘Double’

• Carlton are the only team to have both men’s and women’s teams win the wooden spoon in the same season, occurring in 2018.