Pre-season fields to collect the unfashionable wooden spoon for a last-place finish are brutal to West Coast Eagles hopes for 2011 and their beleaguered premiership coach John Worsfold, as well as Brisbane playing legend Michael Voss.
Worsfold and Voss are each out of contract at the end of this season.
First-time coach Guy McKenna is leading newcomers Gold Coast into the AFL cauldron for their inaugural season and is also in the firing line for a possible last place finish according to some markets.
West Coast collected the unwanted wooden spoon last year after finishing last for the first time in the club's 24-year history.
Top AFL bookmaker sportsbet.com.au expects West Coast and the trouble-ravaged Brisbane to battle it out for a last spot finish along with McKenna's Gold Coast.
The Eagles and Brisbane share the second line of betting at $4.75 to take the wooden spoon, while Gold Coast is favourite at $2.00.
Gold Coast are also at a short $1.80 to win three or less games and $2.00 to win four or more in their first season.
Gold Coast, with former Geelong superstar Gary Ablett at the helm as captain, have troubled critics predictions for their first season's overall winning tally.
Sportsbet.com.au's Haydn Lane confirmed uncertainty predicting Gold Coast's prospects for their debut season.
"From having a look at them on the track they look very fit but the younger guys will no doubt need a couple of pre-seasons to fill out to be able to handle the bigger bodies they’ll encounter week in week out," he said.
"We’ve priced them at just $2 for the wooden spoon, which we think is fair at the moment but we’ll have a better idea about them as we get into the NAB Cup.
"At this stage we think it will be hard for them to win more than half a handful of games in their debut season.
"The Eagles are at $4.75 for the spoon but the Suns are the only thing stopping them from being shorter."
West Coast and Worsfold are scheduled to confront his two-times Eagles premiership teammate McKenna in a head-to-head showdown in Perth in Round 11 that could have a significant influence on any ultimate wooden spoon placing for 2011.
Voss, as probably Brisbane’s most revered player as the triple premiership captain in 2001-03, heads into his third season at the Lions helm.
The Lions icon and as well as McKenna in his debut season, are hardly likely to lose their jobs somewhere during 2011.
But Worsfold is firmly under siege in the west.
The 1992 and ’94 Eagles premiership captain and 2006 title-winning coach is under siege after three successive seasons out of finals as West Coast has won only 16 or their last 66 games at a winning ratio of just 24 per cent.
West Coast launch their new season with genuine winning potential against North Melbourne at home in Perth, Port Adelaide away at AAMI Stadium and then Sydney back in Perth in Round 3 before heading to Launceston to confront genuine premiership contenders Hawthorn.
West Coast has a horror few weeks from Round 8 to Round 10 against staunch rival Fremantle and then power clubs Western Bulldogs at home and an MCG clash with reigning champions Collingwood on May 29.
A week later, on Saturday afternoon of June 4 and it’s the shootout with McKenna’s young Suns in Perth that could define Worsfold.
A loss to McKenna’s Suns could well decide Worsfold’s fate, unless his Eagles have snatched healthy early successes and are still within reach of a finals appearance in September after the Round 11 confrontation.