We took the official ladder at the end of every regular season from 1998 to 2026 from NRL.com and followed each last-placed club into the next season, finals included. That is 29 wooden spoons for 14 clubs. Two of them came from salary cap penalties rather than results, so the next-season numbers use the other 25 clubs that had a next season; the 1999 Western Suburbs Magpies merged into the Wests Tigers instead.
What happens to the NRL wooden spooner the next season
Most stay near the bottom. On average the wooden spooner finished 4.7 places above last the following season, with a median of four, and 18 of the 25 were in the bottom half of the ladder. In the 21 cases where both seasons had 24 games, they went from 5.1 wins to 9.4.
- Made the finals the next season: 7 of 25, 28 percent. Six of them did it with a 14-10 or better record; the 2007 South Sydney Rabbitohs got in seventh at 12-12.
- Reached the grand final: two, the Sydney Roosters in 2010 and the Knights in 2026. Both lost it.
- Won the premiership or the minor premiership the next season: none.
- Took the spoon again: 7 of 25, also 28 percent.
- The biggest climb: the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, last at 5-19 in 2008 and second at 18-6 in 2009, a preliminary finalist.
From wooden spoon to grand final: the Roosters and the Knights
The Roosters were last in 2009 at 5-19, finished sixth at 14-10 in 2010 and reached the grand final, where the St. George Illawarra Dragons beat them 32-8. The Knights repeated the jump this season: 6-18 and last in 2025, seventh at 14-10 in 2026, then three finals wins to the grand final, which the Roosters won 19-18 on 4 October. The Knights reached it as the lowest-placed grand finalists since 2017.
No club in the NRL era has gone from last to the top of the ladder. The Bulldogs' second place in 2009 is the closest, and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks took two seasons: last in 2014, sixth in 2015 and premiers in 2016, after a 14-12 grand final win over the Melbourne Storm. In the NFL, where a team can be last in a four-team division, 15 percent of last-placed teams win the division a year later; in a 16- or 17-club NRL ladder the climb is longer, and no spooner has won the next title.
| Season | Wooden spooner | Record | Points | Next season | Next finals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | St. George Illawarra Dragons | 5-19 | 16 | To come in 2027 | - |
| 2025 | Newcastle Knights | 6-18 | 18 | 7th of 17, 14-10 | Lost grand final |
| 2024 | Wests Tigers | 6-18 | 18 | 13th of 17, 9-15 | Missed |
| 2023 | Wests Tigers | 4-20 | 14 | 17th of 17, 6-18 | Missed |
| 2022 | Wests Tigers | 4-20 | 10 | 17th of 17, 4-20 | Missed |
| 2021 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 3-21 | 8 | 12th of 16, 7-17 | Missed |
| 2020 | Brisbane Broncos | 3-17 | 6 | 14th of 16, 7-17 | Missed |
| 2019 | Gold Coast Titans | 4-20 | 10 | 9th of 16, 9-11 | Missed |
| 2018 | Parramatta Eels | 6-18 | 14 | 5th of 16, 14-10 | Lost in finals |
| 2017 | Newcastle Knights | 5-19 | 14 | 11th of 16, 9-15 | Missed |
| 2016 | Newcastle Knights | 1-1-22 | 7 | 16th of 16, 5-19 | Missed |
| 2015 | Newcastle Knights | 8-16 | 20 | 16th of 16, 1-1-22 | Missed |
| 2014 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 5-19 | 14 | 6th of 16, 14-10 | Lost in finals |
| 2013 | Parramatta Eels | 5-19 | 14 | 10th of 16, 12-12 | Missed |
| 2012 | Parramatta Eels | 6-18 | 16 | 16th of 16, 5-19 | Missed |
| 2011 | Gold Coast Titans | 6-18 | 16 | 11th of 16, 10-14 | Missed |
| 2010 | Melbourne Storm | 14-10 | 0 (docked 32) | 1st of 16, 19-5 | Lost preliminary final |
| 2009 | Sydney Roosters | 5-19 | 14 | 6th of 16, 14-10 | Lost grand final |
| 2008 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 5-19 | 14 | 2nd of 16, 18-6 | Lost preliminary final |
| 2007 | Penrith Panthers | 8-16 | 18 | 12th of 16, 10-1-13 | Missed |
| 2006 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 3-21 | 10 | 7th of 16, 12-12 | Lost in finals |
| 2005 | Newcastle Knights | 8-16 | 20 | 4th of 15, 14-10 | Lost in finals |
| 2004 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 5-2-17 | 16 | 13th of 15, 9-1-14 | Missed |
| 2003 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 3-21 | 10 | 15th of 15, 5-2-17 | Missed |
| 2002 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 20-1-3 | 8 (docked 37) | 3rd of 15, 16-8 | Lost preliminary final |
| 2001 | Penrith Panthers | 7-19 | 14 | 12th of 15, 7-17 | Missed |
| 2000 | North Queensland Cowboys | 7-19 | 12 (docked 2) | 13th of 14, 6-2-18 | Missed |
| 1999 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 3-21 | 10 | Merged into Wests Tigers | - |
| 1998 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 4-20 | 8 | 17th of 17, 3-21 | Missed |
Which NRL club has the most wooden spoons since 1998
The Knights, with five: 2005, three in a row from 2015 to 2017, and 2025. Four clubs have three, and 14 clubs have finished last at least once in the 29 seasons.
- Five: Newcastle Knights.
- Three: the Bulldogs (2002, 2008, 2021), the Rabbitohs (2003, 2004, 2006), the Parramatta Eels (2012, 2013, 2018) and the Wests Tigers (2022, 2023, 2024).
- Two: the Western Suburbs Magpies (1998, 1999), the Penrith Panthers (2001, 2007) and the Gold Coast Titans (2011, 2019).
- One: the North Queensland Cowboys (2000), the Roosters (2009), the Storm (2010), the Sharks (2014), the Brisbane Broncos (2020) and the Dragons (2026).
Three in a row has happened twice, to the Knights from 2015 to 2017 and the Wests Tigers from 2022 to 2024. Of the 17 clubs in the 2026 competition, four have not finished last since 1998: the Canberra Raiders, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, the New Zealand Warriors and the Dolphins, who joined in 2023. Manly have never taken the spoon since entering the competition in 1947.
Salary cap wooden spoons: the 2002 Bulldogs and the 2010 Storm
Two spoons went to clubs that won more than they lost. The Bulldogs went 20-1-3 in 2002, the best record of the season, but were docked 37 points for salary cap breaches and finished last on eight; they were third and preliminary finalists in 2003 and premiers in 2004. The Storm went 14-10 in 2010, enough for fifth, but were stripped of every point and finished on zero; in 2011 they were minor premiers at 19-5 and lost a preliminary final.
Close calls and the worst seasons on the NRL ladder
Nine of the 29 spoons were decided on points differential, with the last two clubs level on points; the most recent was 2025, when the Knights and the Titans both finished on 18 points and Newcastle's -300 was worse than Gold Coast's -199. The most wins by a club that finished last on results is eight, by the 2005 Knights, the 2007 Panthers and the 2015 Knights.
- Fewest wins: the 2016 Knights, 1-1-22 and seven points.
- Fewest points: the 2020 Broncos, six from a 3-17 season of 20 games.
- Worst points differential: the 1999 Western Suburbs Magpies, -659, in their last season before the merger.
- From the finals to last: 8 of the 26 on-field spooners since 1999 had played finals the season before, among them the 2011 Titans, preliminary finalists in 2010.
The 2026 NRL wooden spoon: St. George Illawarra Dragons
The Dragons finished 17th at 5-19 with 16 points and a points differential of -325, two points behind the Titans. It is the first wooden spoon for the joint venture, which entered the competition in 1999. They lost their first 11 games and won for the first time in round 13, 30-26 against the defending premiers, the Broncos, at Suncorp Stadium; they won three of their last five, ending with a 24-22 win over the Eels in round 27, according to NRL.com's draw.
The 2027 competition will have 18 clubs, with the Perth Bears joining, so next year's spoon goes to the club in 18th. On the history above, a spooner is as likely to make the finals the next year as to finish last again, seven times each in 25, and the other 11 landed somewhere in between. Getting into the eight has taken about 13 wins in the NRL top-eight line, eight more than this season. The NRL ladder predictor replays any season round by round, and the NRL ladder will track the bottom of the table once 2027 begins.
NRL wooden spoon: frequently asked questions
Who won the 2026 NRL wooden spoon? The St. George Illawarra Dragons, 17th of 17 at 5-19 with 16 points, the joint venture's first since it entered the competition in 1999.
Which NRL club has the most wooden spoons? Since 1998, the Newcastle Knights, with five: 2005, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2025. Over the premiership's whole history, Western Suburbs hold the record with 17, leaving aside a disputed spoon in 1908, according to Wikipedia's list of wooden spooners.
Has a wooden spooner ever won the NRL premiership the next season? Not since 1998. Two reached the grand final a year after the spoon, the Roosters in 2010 and the Knights in 2026, and both lost it.
What is the NRL wooden spoon? The unofficial title for the club that finishes last on the ladder at the end of the regular season. Clubs level on points are separated by points differential, and penalties count, which is how the 2002 Bulldogs and the 2010 Storm finished last.
How this was built: the official ladder at the end of every NRL regular season from 1998 to 2026 and every finals result, from the public data behind NRL.com's ladder and draw, downloaded in October 2026. We recalculated points from wins, draws, byes and penalties and checked every ladder against Wikipedia, and every wooden spooner against Wikipedia's season pages. Next-season figures cover the 25 spooners from 1998 to 2025 that finished last on results and played the following season; the 2002 Bulldogs and the 2010 Storm, last because of penalties, are counted separately.