Geelong coach Chris Scott admits the Cats have some flaws, but he's not so sure the elimination final loss to Melbourne has ended an era of relative success.
The seventh finals campaign in eight years under Scott was over before it really started, the Demons launching out of the blocks in a 10.15 (75) to 6.10 (46) win at the MCG on Friday night.
After welcoming back two-time Brownlow Medal winner Gary Ablett and adding classy first-year midfielder Tim Kelly to the mix in the off-season, Geelong, who made it to a preliminary final last year, have gone backwards.
The result took Scott's finals record to three wins and nine losses since the 2011 premiership.
The coach was at pains not to make emotive statements about his list in the aftermath of the disappointing loss, but conceded there is work to be done.
"Clearly we've got some holes that have proved a little bit difficult to plug," Scott said.
"But we're still optimistic
"I can't work out when our era started and if it's finished or not. I'm not a really big believer in that ... I think every year is a year in its own right.
"Next year, I'm not sitting here thinking 'Gee, it's going to be hard for us'. I'm optimistic about what can be achieved."
Most of those holes the coach spoke of would appear to be in the forward half.
Geelong finished the home-and-away season with the No.1 defence in the league and Mitch Duncan and Tim Kelly showed they can offer support to the superstar midfield trio of Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood and Ablett.
But the Cats' fortunes in attack can rely too heavily on the broad shoulders of Tom Hawkins, as was the case against the Demons when he kicked two of a season-low six goals.
Scott is determined to let the dust settle on Geelong's 2018 campaign before drawing up his recruiting wish list.
"I think the time for us to make those assessments is going to come a little bit down the track," he said.
"It's not appropriate in my mind to answer that question expansively 30 minutes after our season is over. But in short, we're always trying to improve our list while we transition.
"If you actually take some time to look through the data, it would suggest that we've been OK for a reasonable period of time. In contention, give or take - not quite good enough in the end - while simultaneously transforming our list.
"At the end of the year, there's only one team that's happy with the way they've gone. But there's enough room for optimism in our future."
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