There have been some terrible teams throughout the last 10 years* as expansion and drug scandals shifted the balance of power across the AFL.
In recent times, equalization has evened the playing field and we have seen a few less disastrous seasons compared to the early part of the decade.
Ranking these teams is difficult considering the likes of GWS and Gold Coast suffered heavy losses in their opening seasons yet still held a fair amount of optimism come season's end.
However, some teams clearly stood out from the rest as being truly terrible.
Who is the worst of the worst? Did your team make the list?
2017 - Brisbane Lions (Premiership Points: 20, 74.3%)
The Lions are the best of the worst! Congratulations to all Lions fans out there for enjoying the best worst season of the decade.
While 2017 was undoubtedly a sad time to be a Lions fan, many more teams have struggled to a greater extent than the Lions did this season.
In fact, Brisbane's five wins were the most for a wooden spooner since the Lions themselves in 1998.
In Chris Fagan's first year as coach, the former Hawthorn football manager had the chance to get game time into the likes of Hugh McCluggage, Jarrod Berry, Eric Hipwood and Harris Andrews.
All four have proven to be key players in the club's most recent relatively successful 2019 campaign.
The Lions even managed to increase their total wins from the previous season with Justin Leppitsch at the helm.
Adding to this, the Lions also were awarded the opportunity to select Cameron Rayner with the number one pick in the 2017 draft thanks to their relatively appalling season.
Few teams have finished dead last and managed to maintain a sense of optimism amongst its fans.
While the struggle was hard, a young and hungry Brisbane team looks primed to be one of the best teams in the league over the coming years.
2010 - West Coast (Premiership Points: 16, 77.1%)
It seems a long time ago that West Coast were anywhere near the bottom of the ladder, yet in 2010 they finished dead last.
With just four wins across the season, the club finished the 2010 season with the longest streak in the club's history without a finals appearance.
The decline from the golden era of the mid-2000s was laid bare across the season, with a particularly depressing second half of the year.
The Eagles won just one game after Round 8 and floundered for much of the campaign.
A 75-point loss against rivals Fremantle in the Western derby was a low point for the club.
However, the Eagles bounced back stronger than ever the following season as the time spent blooding the likes of Luke Shuey and Nic Naitanui paid dividends in the form of a remarkable top-four finish.
While a depressing season in terms of total wins, the Eagles managed to set up an exciting future in 2010 which would put the club in finals contention in the decade to come.
2014 - St Kilda (Premiership Points: 16, 60.8%)
While the start of the decade was as close as any club has come to tasting premiership success without getting across the line, St Kilda's decline was shown to be rapid during the 2014 season.
The old guard began to crumble with injuries and age taking their toll on the likes of Lenny Haynes and Sam Fisher.
While Nick Riewoldt continued his stellar career by claiming another All-Australian selection, the Saints remained in rebuild mode under the new leadership of Alan Richardson.
The second half of the year was particularly shocking for Saints fans, as although the club started with three wins before round six, they won just one more game before the end of the season.
Ultimately with such a young list, the Saints were tipped for the wooden spoon prior to the start of the season and their depressing campaign was not an incredible shock to anyone.
Yet with the retirement of club legend Lenny Hayes at the end of the season, Saints fans had plenty of reasons to be despondent at the end of 2014.
2016 - Essendon (Premiership Points: 12, 61%)
While not being the worst season of the decade, the Bombers season was probably the weirdest AFL campaign of the last 10 years.
The suspensions of 12 senior members of the playing group due to the supplements saga forced the Bombers to find mature aged top-up players to fill out its list.
Expectations were low, with some predicting Essendon would not even win a game throughout the course of the 2016 season.
Yet in just Round 2 the Bombers knocked off Melbourne at the MCG and continued to fight for the remainder of the year.
While the win-loss column was certainly terrible, the 2016 season may well be seen as a rebirth of Bombers.
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Darcy Parish and Orazio Fantasia all made some great breakthroughs during the season.
Furthermore, Zach Merrett elevated himself to the elite echelon of the competition, averaging 29 touches over the course of the season.
Winding up with the chance to pick Andrew McGrath with the first pick in the following draft also added to the list of young Bombers talent which has kept fans excited in the following years.
2015 - Carlton (Premiership Points: 16, 64.8%)
The final year of Mick Malthouse's coaching tenure at the Blues was not a fun experience for anyone involved.
While the playing list itself is certainly not the worst on this list, the confidence and cohesion of the group was significantly worsened under Malthouse's reign.
It is a shame that one of the great coaches of the modern AFL was shown to be finally past his prime.
Since the end of the 2015 campaign, Malthouse's strained relationship with the playing group has begun to fully emerge as former players have lamented the negativity of the former Collingwood coach.
The Carlton board faced unprecedented scrutiny after a 1-7 start to the season which ultimately led to Malthouse's spectacular sacking after a bold radio interview.
During the interview, Malthouse asked the club to either "back me or sack me."
The club decided to terminate the coach's contract, who was headhunted to replace Brett Ratten in 2013.
The disastrous 2015 campaign forced Carlton to hit the reset button their playing list as the board were rightfully chastised for sacking Ratten in the first place.
Chris Judd's retirement capped off a terrible season for the Navy Blues which fell way below expectations.
2011 - Gold Coast (Premiership Points: 12, 56.27%)
The first of the expansion clubs makes the list!
While the youthful Suns were truly awful in their debut season, it is still hard to place a team which was ultimately set up to fail this high.
With Gary Ablett operating in midfield, the Suns always had a dependable body to lean on despite their youthful experience.
While the club has failed to reach the finals with the remnants of its 2011 playing list, yet it still managed to develop several good footballers.
The likes of David Swallow, Tom Lynch, Josh Caddy and Charlie Dixon have gone on to become quality AFL players.
It is a shame for the Suns that the benefits of their development program have been best felt across other teams in the competition.
One of the low points for the Suns was setting the record for the most points conceded in a quarter in Round 6 against the Bombers.
Gold Coast conceded 15 goals during the first term as the Bombers got to the first change with a staggering 93-point lead.
2018 - Carlton (Premiership Points: 8, 59.3%)
Congratulations Carlton for being the highest non-expansion club on this list!
The 2018 season for the Blues was truly awful considering the club had made an attempt to resurrect itself from its disastrous Malthouse-led year in 2015.
Another wooden spoon in spite of aiming to rejuvenate their list exposed the critically flawed rebuild over the past three seasons.
After three seasons of looking to build through the draft, top 25 picks such as Jacob Weitering, David Cuningham and Lochie O'Brien doesn't demonstrate the most amazing level of recruitment.
Injuries did hit the Blues hard this season to be fair and the likes of Patrick Cripps and Charlie Curnow provided some bright spots for Blues fans.
However, the club built an embarrassing streak of failing to kick over 100 points in any of their matches this season.
The low point may have been a 105-point loss to an injury-riddled Giants side who managed to dominate the young Blues with just 16 players on the field at times.
Thankfully for Blues fans, a David Teague led-resurgence in the second half of 2019 saved the club from adding a third wooden spoon for the decade.
2019 - Gold Coast (Premiership Points: 12, 60.5%)
Gold Coast executives never planned for their 2011 debut season to be placed below their most recent campaign on this list.
Although the more experienced 2019 Suns team may enter a hypothetical match-up with the side from its debut season as slight favourites, at least the Suns of 2011ย had the chance to look forward to the future.
Now the Suns are at the very beginning of a long and arduous rebuild with a survival package of picking being handed down by the AFL Commission at the start of this year's trade period.
The Suns did not win a game after Round 4 this year and suffered painful 90-point losses to the likes of Brisbane, Richmond and even Adelaide.
It is also worth noting that Gold Coast came mightily close to not winning a game at all this season, with their three victories all coming with a margin of less than a goal.
The AFL's baby club has managed to land a couple of targets during the recent trade period but has a lot to do in order to turn its culture and win-loss record around.
2012 - Greater Western Sydney (Premiership Points: 8, 46.7%)
The inaugural season of the Giants went as many expected it would. Terribly.
Without a marquee player at the level of Gary Ablett, the Giants fared a lot worse than the newly established Gold Coast did during their first season.
However, there were some notable moments, including a legendary Kevin Sheedy rev up before the club's debut game against the Swans.
Victories against the Gold Coast and Port Adelaide were also bright spots for an incredibly young side.
However, with five defeats over 100 points, the Giants were simply a bad team as over the season they averaged just 57 points per game.
Despite having one of the worst percentages in AFL history, the Giants were expected to improve on their 2012 season the following year.
2013 - Greater Western Sydney (Premiership Points: 4, 50.97%)
The second year of the Giants' existence wasn't expected to be a great leap forward from their first campaign, yet the club won one less game than their debut season.
With the disappointment of performing below their original season as well as still having an incredibly inexperienced list, the Giants take the crown of having the single worst wooden spoon winning team of the decade.
The Giants did not have as many experienced bodies compared to their fellow start-ups on the Gold Coast and paid the price this season.
A victory against Melbourne in Round 19 stopped them from becoming just the 14th club in AFL/VFL history to finish a season winless.
The 21-point triumph allowed the Giants to snap a 21-game losing streak originating from their debut season.
While it could be argued the Giants do not deserve the top spot on this list with such a young and promising team, if each side on here played each other, these Giants would struggle.
Combined with the disappointment of having less wins that their debut season, Greater Western Sydney stake a strong claim for being the worst wooden spooner of the decade.
