Are the West Coast Eagles the worst team in VFL/AFL history? The results will surprise you

The West Coast Eagles football club is at its lowest ebb. The fans want blood after they were pumped 31.19 (205) to 5.4 (34) by the Sydney Swans in an SCG demolition on Saturday.

It was the worst loss the Eagles have ever suffered and the fourth highest margin in VFL/AFL history, rubbing piles of salt into what’s already an open wound for fans.

Covid and its AFL bubbles, tight Western Australian travel restrictions and disruptions played their roles, but the once mighty Eagles are going backwards so fast it’s appropriate to ask, when is the last time a team was this awful?

‘It’s not just the coach, how about some of the more senior players put their hand up, they were terrible on the weekend, didn’t show any leadership at all,’ one Eagles fan posted following the hammering by Sydney. 

‘They are currently the most unattractive list of all the teams with bad contracts and injury prone players,’ posted another.

‘Jesus could coach them right now and even a miracle can’t save them,’ one fan added.

Eagles captain Luke Shuey leads the battered and comprehensively beaten Eagles off the SCG after they were pumped by the Sydney Swans

Many fans have called for coach Adam Simpson to face the axe, while others question what good that will do when the list is performing so badly

Covid restrictions, off-field incidents, injuries and retirements have all combined to drag the Eagles down to the lowest point in the club’s history

Simpson has the weight of the world on his shoulders with plenty calling for him to be sacked, with Damien Hardwick potentially waiting in the wings.

Even former players, loyal to the end, have had enough – like Eagles great Scott Cummings. 

‘I generally loathe seeing a coach get removed halfway through a season or late in a season,’ Cummings told SEN radio on Monday.

‘Or supporters screaming out ‘we want heads’ and ‘heads must roll’, stability is probably the number one thing.

‘But with the West Coast Eagles, stability is out the window.

 ‘They need a full clean-out. They need new voices, they need new faces.’

But is the current West Coast Eagles the worst team in the history of the VFL/AFL? The answer may surprise you, because some famous teams have performed far worse.

Some have perished, some have merged, but one is currently riding high in the AFL top eight and looking for a shock premiership…

Most Points Conceded

Brisbane Bears lost to Geelong 239-75 [1992]

Melbourne Demons lost to Fitzroy 238-48 [1979]

Sydney lost to Essendon 236-73 [1987]

Brisbane Bears coach Peter Knights tries his best to get something out of his under-powered list before they went on to merge with Fitzroy

The Brisbane Bears had Warwick Capper, but that was about the only bright point for the club as it competed in the mud and mulch at Carrara – which isn’t even in Brisbane

Having 205 points slapped against you is bad news for any club. So when West Coast conceded that amount to Sydney, it had many reaching for the record books.

However, two defunct clubs and one current team feature in more lopsided matches. 

The ‘Bad News’ Brisbane Bears of the late 1980s and early 1990s are certainly contenders for the worst VFL/AFL team in history and hold the record for conceding the most points, 239 to Geelong.

The Bears would ultimately merge with the Fitzroy Lions, another VFL battler that many would consider one of the worst sides ever to take the field.

However, Fitzroy was capable of a big win or two and actually sit second on this list, mauling the Melbourne Demons 238-48 in 1979.

Sydney are in third place, except on the receiving end, after being belted 236-73 by Essendon.

Biggest Losing Margin

Fitzroy beat Melbourne 238-48 (margin 190) [1979]

Geelong beat Melbourne 233-47 (margin 186) [2011]

Collingwood beat St Kilda 207-29 (margin 178) [1979]

The old MCG scoreboard attendants worked overtime on the Collingwood section while the St Kilda attendants had a cruisy day

This is the list West Coast came closest to cracking. The club’s thrashing at the hands of Sydney was the fourth-biggest losing margin in VFL/AFL history.

That infamous Fitzroy win over the Demons at Waverley Park in front of 12,000 hardy supporters claims top spot.

Poor old Melbourne comes in second place as well, torched 233-47 by Geelong. 

Then in third place St Kilda makes its first entry, flogged by 178 points by Collingwood. While it is the club’s first entry, it won’t be the last.

Lowest Score Recorded

St Kilda lost 162-1 to Geelong [1899]

St Kilda lost 59-2 to South Melbourne [1919]

St Kilda lost 119-2 to Geelong [1899]

Poor defence is the hallmark of a terrible team – but failing so score a single goal is the sort of horror effort no footy team has been guilty of for a long time.

Thankfully for West Coast supporters, their club doesn’t come anywhere near the top three of this list.

In fact, no club does – except for poor old St Kilda.

In the early days of the VFL the bayside boys were treated like ragdolls and twice could only manage a single behind in a match, while only kicking two behinds in another.

Longest Losing Streak

University 51 [1912-14]

St Kilda 48 [1897-99]

North Melbourne 35 [1933-35]

University was on a hiding to nothing from the start, because rules meant the club could only field amateur players while VFL powerhouse clubs were becoming increasingly professional

Getting thrashed is hard for any club, but like Hawthorn has shown just this season, any team can rebound and post a win the next week.

So it is important to look at the bigger picture – and even then, some clubs have shown that they can’t help losing over a long period of time.

Nobody did it worse than University back in the formative days of the VFL and their 51-game losing streak is unlikely to be headed. Could you image a club in the modern era not winning for two entire seasons?

North Melbourne came perilously close in recent years and their 35-game losing streak is a black mark against the club.

But once again, St Kilda grabs a place in a list they probably wish they were absent from, losing a remarkable 48 games in a row.

Longest AFL Premiership Drought 

South Melbourne / Sydney 72 years

St Kilda 68 years (and currently on a 57-year streak)

Footscray / Western Bulldogs 62 years

The battling St Kilda Saints were initially a rugby club that struggled to get funding because the local cricket team got all the cash – which somewhat explains the club’s lean early years

To be fair to St Kilda, most of their worst losses came during in an era when this was the standard uniform for AFL clubs

This is a key area when assessing the long-term success of a club and thankfully for West Coast supporters, you don’t need to be digging up ancient editions of AFL Record to reminisce about premiership success.

That is probably what makes Saturday’s loss the Swans so hard for Eagles fans to take – they are used to success.

The Eagles won premierships in 1994, 2006 and 2018 after being founded in 1986 and had more members than any other club in 2021, with more than 106,000. 

Even a teenage West Coast fans can remember the feeling of hoisting the premiership trophy.

You probably won’t find many South Melbourne fans left in the league except the true diehards, who had to ensure 72 years before finally winning a coveted flag.

That only happened when they were relocated to Sydney and the famous Bloods culture was forged.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Eagles were actually the pride of the AFL (Liam Duggan and Josh Kennedy are pictured celebrating the 2018 premiership)

Losing is part of the DNA at St Kilda, an unfortunate fact for long-suffering Saints fans who need to delve into the history books to re-live the club’s only premiership in 1966

Under the tutelage of Ross Lyon and with a host of rising young stars in the ranks, the Saints have an unlikely shot at an AFL flag this season

Back we go to St Kilda. 

If you were 18 years old when the Saints last lifted the trophy, you would be 75 years old today.

Before that, the stretch before finally winning their first flag was 68 years.

Which is remarkable considering St Kilda sits fifth on the ladder at the back end of the 2023 season.

Thanks to the fact they play the bottom four clubs in the final rounds, it seems likely St Kilda will play finals this season and even have a chance at premiership glory, albeit a faint one.

At the very least, the club has its destiny in its own hands.

But are the West Coast Eagles the worst team in VFL/AFL history? No chance. The Saints have that tightly locked up.