Geelong are still grieving after the abrupt end to their AFL season, but Chris Scott isn't about to blow up the Cats' football program and start again.
Geelong, who have made the finals in seven of eight seasons under Scott, have copped criticism for their recruiting strategy that has left them short of top-10 draft talent.
But where others like Carlton and St Kilda have bottomed out in a bid to stockpile high draft picks, a defiant Scott made no apologies for his club's stated aim of trying to make the top four every AFL season.
"What's the alternative? Fall down the ladder deliberately and accept that it's going to be a six-to-eight-year process?," he said on Fox Footy's AFL 360.
"There are some parts to the way that we play that we need to shift to improve.
"But three days post (our exit) I'm not prepared to say that what we're doing needs a complete overhaul and we're going to accept that we're just not good enough so slide down the ladder to rebuild.
"I'm not even sure that that works - it may - but these are the discussions that we're having.
"... You've got to put up with a lot of pain if you're going to go down that path."
The Cats won the 2011 premiership in Scott's first year in charge, but have a 3-9 record in finals since.
They are still licking their wounds after an elimination final defeat to Melbourne that showed up several gaping holes in their line-up.
Geelong have been active in the trade period in recent years, with Patrick Dangerfield, Lachie Henderson, Zach Tuohy and Gary Ablett among the experienced talent they've brought in.
But Scott rejected the notion that his club's younger players haven't been given a look-in at AFL level this season.
While the pain of their finals exit is still acute, the Cats will forensically dissect their whole season as they plot the way forward.
"We were frustrated, a lot of things didn't go well for us on the night (against Melbourne) that were really easy to identify in the post-game analysis," Scott said.
"There are things that need to change but it's not as simple as looking at the last game and saying 'These are the things we need to fix to have a better year next year' ... the problems go a little bit deeper than that."
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