It's an unfortunate guarantee that some AFL clubs are going to struggle significantly more than others in any given season.
The disparity between the top half and bottom half of the league was particularly obvious in 2025, with the ninth-place Bulldogs winning five more games than the 11th-place Carlton Blues.
The gap was even larger the further down the ladder you go, with West Coast becoming the first club since GWS in 2013 to win just one game for an entire season.
But who will be in the mix for the least-desired award in 2026? There's a few familiar clubs you might recognise...
3Essendon Bombers
The Bombers enter 2026 at a crossroads.
Essendon have proven that when fully healthy, they own a list capable of being competitive; one that can push toward the top half of the ladder.
However, injuries continue to haunt the club from 2025 into the new year, which forced the Bombers to unveil a league-record 15 debutants during last season.
There will certainly be a push to maintain that trend after the Bombers walked away as one of the biggest winners of the 2025 draft too. They selected three draftees in the first round - Sullivan Robey, Jacob Farrow and Dyson Sharp - who all have the capabilities of playing in Essendon's Round 1 grudge match against Hawthorn, and do so at an impactful level.
But with lingering stars at the Hangar looking to continue to play an important role, like Zach Merrett and Andrew McGrath, only time will tell what direction they head in.
With that said, the growing reliance on young, developing talent in addition to the depletion of proven stars exiting in the off-season reflects another potentially dour year for the red sash, and they'll have to fight tooth and nail to escape the AFL's basement.
