Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse believes the bottom-placed Magpies are nowhere near getting ready to take the wooden spoon and won't entertain the idea that priority draft picks could be headed the AFL club's way.

Collingwood has one win from eight games, is a game behind 15th-placed Hawthorn, and will again field an undermanned side against ladder-leader West Coast at the MCG on Saturday.

But amid the gloom there is no thought of the benefits priority draft picks would bring, after the AFL this week maintained the status quo for the 2005 season.

"That's not our goal to finish bottom with less than five wins, I can assure you," Malthouse said in the lead-up to the Eagles game.

The AFL will continue with the current system where teams which finish on 20 premiership points or less get a priority pick, before the other draft selections.

If Collingwood finishes last with five wins or less it will get a priority pick to select the No.1 junior in the country and depending on other results, could get the next pick as well - just two years after it lost the 2003 grand final to Brisbane.

Collingwood has always maintained the system was flawed, as it allowed for the perception that struggling sides could throw games to gain prized higher draft picks.

But Malthouse prickled when asked what the club's view was now that it looks like being the major beneficiary before the AFL reviews the system for next season.

"That's your assessment that we finish bottom - is that your assessment?" he said.

"It's a possibility that the eighth (placed) side is currently on four wins, so it's a possibility that the side that is currently in eighth or ninth position could also be a beneficiary."

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