Following an AFL team can be an uplifting, joyful experience (or so I’ve read in books) or a soul crushing, what hell is like, daily grind.

The one bit of fun we can all have is enjoying the crazy things players, Club CEOs, Board members and AFL administrators say and do.

It’s what fuels Twitter, blogs, workplace conversation and the occasional wedding vow.

Therefore, I’ve done my ladder prediction for season 2014 based on the comedic potential each team possesses.

Good news for some fans, in this model, Melbourne and St Kilda have both won Premierships recently

1. Essendon

Last year’s Premiers are looking the goods again this year. The ASADA scandal has launched more jokes than a night at the Brownlow with Brendon Fevola.

With Hird to come back (he totally is!), Bomber coaching while also publicly philosophising about the meaning of life in the media every two seconds and the Herald Sun and The Age taking sides, then swapping sides means this is set up to be a rerun of last year but with more fatigue.

Add to that the pure volume of jokes ASADA generate through inaction, it’s hard to see a team top the Bombers this year.

2. Sydney

Shooting towards the top of the list is Sydney with one trade. Recruiting Buddy Franklin was a masterstroke and he’s already delivering. A model girlfriend, the Daily Tele getting stuck into him for being rude at nightclubs, his first game, the hits just keep coming.

Add to that Adam Goodes being Australian of the Year and a bitterness about Buddy and Tippett being paid so much and this has comedy gold written all over it.

If Buddy doesn’t fire, the Schadenfreude will set world records.

3. Richmond

Jack Riewoldt’s media ban, Dustin Martin’s potential to do something crazy and Jake King’s bikie association make Richmond the strong mover this year.

Expect them to build on last year’s efforts, like Dustin Martin trying to leave and Richmond bidding against themselves to keep him.

4. Carlton

I rate them very highly. Mick Malthouse is great fodder and the addition of Daisy Thomas adds a whole ‘father-son’ dynamic.

Add Judd and a cast of perennially disappointing players and it’s an exceptionally solid base.

Who knew the 2009 membership slogan ‘They know we’re coming’ was just a wonderful set up for a five-year joke?

Wait, we all did except for Carlton.

5. Port Adelaide

The arrival of Ken Hinkley and the improvement on the field should have them plummeting down this ladder but then there’s David Koch.

Koch’s lack of self-awareness is a boon for comedic misadventures. He’s also on TV all the time, which just adds to the potential moments he can say something stupid.

Plus, it’s Port Adelaide!

6. Collingwood

They’re always going to be up high. No matter what’s going on at the club, the stereotype of their supporters (so inaccurate) will always produce a range of jokes.

This year however they’ve lost Heath Shaw, Alan Didak, Daisy Thomas and Darren Jolly. That’s a lot of joke material walking out the door.

Eddie McGuire will always provide a lot of material and Harry O’Brien’s name change is a very solid comedic device for the season but the Pies have slipped this off-season.

7. GWS

Heath Shaw. A stunning recruit for the Giants and one that sees them rocketing up the ranks.

Not since they got Tom Scully’s dad a job, have they performed so well in the off-season.

Not getting Buddy was also a fun thing to watch, although that may be seen as lucky rather than funny fairly soon.

Surrounding Heath with a bunch of impressionable young people is a sitcom I once pitched to Channel Nine.

It actually got picked up and made but by the time we implemented all the feedback from the network, it ended up Underbelly: Squizzy. That show will make a lot more sense now if you watch it.

8. Melbourne

Melbourne has simply out done themselves in recent years. It’s one thing to generate material for jokes; it’s a whole other level to become a joke.

They could have won this thing five years in a row if not for the ASADA investigation last year.

Things may be turning the corner though.

Losing Chris Connelly, Mark Neeld and Cameron Schwab takes away a lot of potential joke material.

Paul Roos and Peter Jackson actually know what they’re doing, so look for Melbourne to drop down the list.

9. St Kilda

The Saints almost always provide some terrific jokes, although they also tend to create some incidents that are impossible to find funny. It’s hard to know which way they’ll go.

That said; write them off at your peril. When it all looked over last year, the stormed back to the top by trying to set a dwarf on fire then refusing to pay him for not being ‘entertaining enough.’

You could get every comedy writer in the world in a room for a year and they couldn’t come up with that.

10. North Melbourne

North has been a quiet achiever in recent years. Brad Scott has provided real gold and his ‘roof not being closed’ stuff was terrific work.

Their collapsing in fourth quarters was also pure gold for a long time but is probably starting to run out of legs (thanks, here all week).

The addition of Nick Dal Santo is obviously an attempt to draft in a bit of the Saints’ comedic magic but I fear he’s probably a bit past it.

11. Hawthorn

It’s not clear who will replace Buddy Franklin for the Hawks. Josh Gibson always provides material and Clarko’s angry antics are a solid contribution.

Unfortunately, the Hawks are good on the field and teams doing well on the field tend to provide less material, given their boards aren’t usually melting down.

Jeff Kennett still chips in but apparently he’s no longer President. Somebody really needs to tell him.

12. Brisbane

Last year provided a few highlights with all the infighting but now that’s fixed, the main comedy will be out on the field.

Has shown some promise by getting into a public spat with Matthew Lloyd, which shows they’re at least trying hard to provide some material. Otherwise why would you bother?

13. Geelong

Chris Scott getting angry is fun and last year’s ‘we now have fancy electric lights’ provided a ton of material to work with.

Now, there’s not a lot going on in sleepy hollow. Steve J might do something silly I suppose and Billie Smedts has shown he’s someone to watch but it’s slim pickings after that.

14. Gold Coast

To begin, they seem to be on the rise. I would have thought a bunch of cashed up teenagers on the Gold Coast would just be raining down material for jokes but alas it just hasn’t happened. Big Brother lied to us.

They had to import a veteran from Hawthorn to provide anyone to make fun of and now he’s gone.

A team that has truly failed to live up to it’s potential.

15. Western Bulldogs

Long-suffering Bulldogs fans know what it’s like to be the subject of ridicule and jokes.

Unfortunately, Melbourne has completely outfoxed them in this regard recently becoming the go-to team for jokes about bad football.

They seem to have some players that are funny in a self-depreciating was, which makes them pretty hard to laugh at.

16. Adelaide

There’s always a bit of fun to be had with Adelaide because it’s Adelaide.

Last year, I made a few jokes about Adelaide being boring and I was flooded with people pointing out to me that Adelaide is on Lonely Planet's list of the world's best cities to visit in 2014.

I was accused of having out of date jokes! I feel bad. Anyone who’s travelled knows how amazingly accurate those Lonely Planet guides are.

I stand corrected Radalaide. Have some fritz on me.

17. West Coast

The glory days of Ben Cousins and others are far behind. Nic Naitanui seems a switched on, self-aware kind of guy. He even makes jokes, like Jobe Watson being the token ‘white guy’ in the AFL multicultural program.

Expect a quiet year.

18. Fremantle

Ross Lyon is a great coach but is boring. Matthew Pavlich is an amazing player but boring.

You can do a few jokes about them being boring but that lasts only so long. Apart from their song, Fremantle are not bringing the funny this season.