ESSENDON will start as clear favourites for the first time this season when it takes on the Brisbane Lions on Sunday in the bottom-of-the-ladder clash.

The Bombers head into the Etihad Stadium meeting as $1.54 favourites according to CrownBet, with the Lions entering the game as outsiders at $2.48 in the head-to-head betting.

It is the shortest price the Bombers have been all season, surpassing their $2.90 price against Collingwood on Anzac Day when they lost by 69 points.

The Lions have also overtaken Essendon as the favourites for the wooden spoon, moving into $1.80 for in CrownBet's 'least wins' market. The Bombers have led that market all season until this week.

Both sides have won just one game for the season, with percentage only separating the Lions (61.2 per cent) from the bottom-placed Bombers (58.5).

This week's game is likely to go a long way to deciding the wooden spoon and No.1 draft choice, but without a clear standout at the top of this year's crop the "prize" might not be as significant as recent years.

But Essendon coach John Worsfold said after the Bombers' tight loss to Richmond on the weekend that he believed last place wouldn't necessarily be decided by the Lions clash.

"We're desperate, not so much to avoid last spot but to win. We want to win through our effort and start to build and get to know what it feels like to be a winning team. We'll be aiming for that," he said.

"I would challenge [the view next week will decide the wooden spoon] and say that … the form we're starting to show will worry certain other teams over the remaining course of the year.

"We would like to think teams won't be sitting back saying, 'Who are we going to rest against Essendon?' or 'This game is a lighter one'. It's going to be on."

Victorian midfielders Will Brodie and Hugh McCluggage, smooth West Australian half-forward Sam Petrevski-Seton, small forward Ben Ainsworth, and taller types Todd Marshall and Jack Scrimshaw are all possible contenders for the No.1 choice in an unusually open field.