AT THE start of this season, if you wanted to bet on 2010 wooden-spooner West Coast winning the premiership, TAB Sportsbet was offering $67.
But any punter with a hunch the Eagles' young list was ready to soar after three consecutive seasons near the bottom of the ladder would not have been encouraged by a look through AFL/VFL history.
They would have learned no club in the competition's 114 seasons has collected the wooden spoon one year and won the flag the next.
Just two teams have come close: Essendon in 1908 and Collingwood in 1977. Both entered those seasons the wooden-spoon holder and finished runner-up.
Essendon finished the 1908 season second on the ladder and lost the Grand Final by nine points to minor premier Carlton.
The Magpies of 1977 came even closer to the feat, winning the minor premiership under first-year coach Tom Hafey, drawing the Grand Final against North Melbourne after squandering a 27-point three-quarter time lead, and losing the replay by 27 points.
West Coast's improvement this year has been so dramatic that after last Friday night's win over Geelong, it sat half a game outside the top four with a game in hand on fourth-placed Carlton. TAB Sportsbet had also slashed its premiership odds to $15.
Obviously, history is not the only thing counting against the Eagles' chances of winning this year's premiership.
Reigning premier Collingwood and 2007 and '09 premier Geelong, in particular, loom as considerable roadblocks.
Still, with 2006 premiership heroes Dean Cox, Daniel Kerr, Darren Glass and Andrew Embley returning to form this year, and the rapid improvement of youngsters Luke Shuey, Nic Naitanui, Brad Ebert and Ashley Smith, West Coast is a genuine top-four contender.
A quick look at the 2010 and 2011 ladders shows West Coast has increased its average score from 86.3 points (13th in the AFL) last year to 98.6 (sixth) this year.
It is also conceding 25 fewer points a game, down from 104.5 (14th) last year to 79.6 (sixth) this season.
Since 1977, three teams have come from last on the ladder and finished in the top four the next year: Fitzroy in 1981, Melbourne in 1998 and the Brisbane Lions in 1999 (all finished fourth).
Adelaide holds the record for the biggest rise up the ladder to claim a premiership, coming from 12th in 1996 to win the 1997 flag.
This story first appeared in the AFL Record
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
