The Wooden Spoon

[Braddock]

With the prospect of finishing last for the second time in a few years very real and the philosophy of "I'd rather finished last than ninth" these days I was wondering how much emphasis people place on the historical significance of winning the wooden spoon.

Would you rather finish last and have the first pick or finish second last and have the second pick without the stigma of winning the wooden spoon? And if you go for the latter, would you rather have just the second pick as opposed to the spoon, the first pick and a priority pick? I'd make a poll but I'm too stupid.

 

[EB&W Pieman]

The principle advantage in finishing last is getting first pick in the pre-season draft (PSD). You can use this pick to extort a good trade. "You either give us Dal Santo for pick 44 and Shane O'Bree or we get him for nothing in the PSD. In the end the team that has the frist pick in the PSD ends up not taking it because they have done all their trading beforehand and have no cap space left.

Often there is so little difference between picks 1,2 and 3 in the National draft that a case could be made for finishing 15th and avoiding the taunts and the jeers, but the PSD makes a ton of difference.

 

[pieman1]

Some people call it a wooden spoon, I call it a pot of gold!!!

 

[Cassius_Clay]

Rather finish 15th.

 

[Stan.]

Id rather finish 16th.

 

[TheTigersReallyGreat]

I'd rather finish ninth than sixteenth, but Collingwood will not finish ninth. They are currently last on the ladder.

 

[bobneil130]

I'd rather finish ninth than sixteenth, but Collingwood will not finish ninth. They are currently last on the ladder.

Are we last??? Gee thanks for that info. I suppose a Richmond supporter knows all about being last.

For pride sake i would not like to finish last but for a the futures sake i would rather finish 16th. Even if we do finish last we will still be 2nd least amount of Vic based team to of finished last 3 times in over 100 years only Carlton has a better record.

 

[itsintheblood]

I'd rather finish ninth than sixteenth, but Collingwood will not finish ninth. They are currently last on the ladder.

I apologise on behalf of my newbie colleague.

 

[hotpie]

Historical significance of the wooden spoon has definitely declined in recent years. Apart from Carton cheating their way to a spoon and missing out on draft picks, laughing at the wooden spooner is a double edged sword these days. On the one hand you are rapt that a team you hate has come last, on the other hand you have to hold back your laughter because you know it will come back to bit you in a few years time.

Sad but true. Hope we get to bite next year or 2007.

 

[Blue right through]

Historical significance of the wooden spoon has definitely declined in recent years. Apart from Carton cheating their way to a spoon and missing out on draft picks, laughing at the wooden spooner is a double edged sword these days. On the one hand you are rapt that a team you hate has come last, on the other hand you have to hold back your laughter because you know it will come back to bit you in a few years time.

Sad but true. Hope we get to bite next year or 2007.

I hear Ya. That cost us big time. Although I think one of the players we missed out on was Goddard, who seems a bit lost. Maybe that was a tiny positive.
At least the the Tasmania Magpies will stop the rest of us from getting a spoon for a while.

 

[grayza]

They are currently last on the ladder.

that truly is a disgrace......what a waste of other people's air you must be

 

[Jack-Packenham]

The principle advantage in finishing last is getting first pick in the pre-season draft (PSD). You can use this pick to extort a good trade. "You either give us Dal Santo for pick 44 and Shane O'Bree or we get him for nothing in the PSD. In the end the team that has the frist pick in the PSD ends up not taking it because they have done all their trading beforehand and have no cap space left.

Often there is so little difference between picks 1,2 and 3 in the National draft that a case could be made for finishing 15th and avoiding the taunts and the jeers, but the PSD makes a ton of difference.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't you draft Shane O'bree with the first pick in the PSD the last time you finished last. See your not certain to get a gun with that pick are you?????

 

[Jack-Packenham]

You need to finish last so Eddie 2Spoons can keep his new name

 

[hotpie]

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't you draft Shane O'bree with the first pick in the PSD the last time you finished last. See your not certain to get a gun with that pick are you?????

Who was pick 2?

 

[grayza]

just the luck of what comes up at the time....we got stuck with Obree, who had a great first 2 seasons at the Pies but has fallen away quite a bit

a lot of big name players coming out of contract at season end.......hopefully we can land one of them

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

You need to finish last so Eddie 2Spoons can keep his new name

Last time I checked, Eddie McGuire is not a coach of this team, nor is he a recruiting or football operations manager. Furthermore, he doesn't not have control over the workings of the team, and is simply the head of the board.

I fail to see how the Spoons can be attributed to him.

 

[hotpie]

I fail to see how the Spoons can be attributed to him.

As President, hes responsible for all the cutlery at the Presidents Lunch - does that count?

 

[Murray]

I'd rather finish ninth than sixteenth, but Collingwood will not finish ninth. They are currently last on the ladder.

Yes, I see where you are coming from .........



............. Its just not on this planet

 

[Murray]

Last time I checked, Eddie McGuire is not a coach of this team, nor is he a recruiting or football operations manager. Furthermore, he doesn't not have control over the workings of the team, and is simply the head of the board.

I fail to see how the Spoons can be attributed to him.

Come on Jack(ass) is not that bright, you have to just pat him on head and smile a lot

 

[dunno4]

I'd rather finish ninth than sixteenth, but Collingwood will not finish ninth. They are currently last on the ladder.

Obviously split the atom before breakfast, then made this outstanding contribution to the world

 

[Cassius_Clay]

I'd rather finish ninth than sixteenth, but Collingwood will not finish ninth. They are currently last on the ladder.

Are we last??

I would never of guessed

 

[Hawk Dork]

I'd rather finish ninth than sixteenth, but Collingwood will not finish ninth. They are currently last on the ladder.

Ninth is the worst you can do no finals and crap draft loose loose.

 

[Jack-Packenham]

Last time I checked, Eddie McGuire is not a coach of this team, nor is he a recruiting or football operations manager. Furthermore, he doesn't not have control over the workings of the team, and is simply the head of the board.

I fail to see how the Spoons can be attributed to him.

How untouchable is this bloke. When you made the grand finals all the talk was how eddie 2spoons turned them around and single handedly saved the club. Now they are losing, he has nothing to do with it.!!!!!!!

 

[FIGJAM]

How untouchable is this bloke. When you made the grand finals all the talk was how eddie 2spoons turned them around and single handedly saved the club. Now they are losing, he has nothing to do with it.!!!!!!!

The talk was in reference to our off field issues. The off field improvements consisted of a squillion dollar turnaround and a new coaching regime.

Eddie is now showing the faith required in his football department. All Presidents do it.

And yes, Eddie has nothing to do with our current on field problems. Nothing, so stop your trolling.

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

How untouchable is this bloke. When you made the grand finals all the talk was how eddie 2spoons turned them around and single handedly saved the club. Now they are losing, he has nothing to do with it.!!!!!!!

The talk was that he saved the club financially. When we were down in 98/99, and Eddie took over, we were losing a boatload of money every year.

It's hard to steady the ship when you're taking on that much water. Eddie brought in Mick Malthouse, gave him control and started bringing in a ridiculous amount of money.

For the on-field success, nobody gave the credit to Eddie. We all knew that it was Mick Malthouse who was getting a group of gutsy, hard-working players to play out of their skin when we went to 2 grand finals.

The reason Eddie doesn't get blamed now is because he is still doing his job. We are STILL making more money than most of the teams in the AFL, despite what looks like two bottom 4 finishes in a row.

Mick Malthouse is getting most of the blame, if any, because the team is struggling on the field, which is his area. However, a lot of us, unlike blinded Collingwood haters, realise that we are crippled by injury at the moment.

Buckley, Rocca and Fraser are three of our best 4 players, and the results of the games we're playing would be significantly different if we had two, let alone all three of them back.

Guy Richards is our first ruck option, and he's hurt. We're using a guy who's played about 20 games of organised footy since he turned 16, an ex-basketball player, in the ruck.

Alan Didak is another player in the top 10 in terms of talent at our club, and he's finally just playing himself into form now. Chris Tarrant is doing much the same, which is hampering our ability to give him a run in the midfield, which could be dangerous. Leon Davis is probably in our best 22 when he's healthy and playing well, which was happening before he broke his hand.

Even some of the young guys who would be pressing for a game are injured, like Tom Davidson, Brayden Shaw, Adam Iacobucci and Zane Leonard.

Even the so-called dud, Cameron Cloke, who through all the injuries is actually leading us in hit-outs, and usually pops up to kick a goal every week, is playing with a concussion and bad shoulder.

Now, you can claim every club has injuries, but I defy you to post an injury list that long, or even that impactful at the top of the list from any other team in the league.