For the eight clubs that missed the eight, it's time to get serious about wooing free agents, making brutal list decisions and preparing for trade period and the draft. Trade period opens on October 9 and the national draft is on November 24.
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There will be all manner of player transactions and rearranging of the draft order before then, as clubs search for the missing piece of the premiership puzzle and players look for opportunities, success, financial rewards or feel the tug of home. Yes, Gary, we're talking about you.
Here, retired Geelong champion and aspiring list manager Jimmy Bartel helps to provide a forensic look at your team at the end of the 2017 season and what it needs to kick on.
COLLINGWOOD
2017 record: 9-12-1
Position: 13th
Season review: After one of the club's most tumultuous years in recent history, Collingwood re-signed Nathan Buckley as coach for two more seasons at the end of 2017. Plainly speaking, however, not much improved on the field to suggest the club had moved forward, save for a resurgent end to the season which resulted in four wins, a draw (against minor premiers Adelaide) and two losses. Poor kicking, inefficient inside 50 entries and an inability to convert midfield dominance into meaningful play marred the year, while injury-dogged off-season recruit Daniel Wells changed the side whenever he did play in 2017. With no finals appearance since 2013 the Pies' 2017 was ultimately another frustrating season.
Grade: D
Unsigned free agents: Tyson Goldsack, Lachlan Keeffe, Ben Sinclair, Josh Thomas (all unrestricted).
Retirements/delistings: Jesse White (retired).
Key draft picks: 6, 36, 54 in the national draft.
BARTEL SAYS
WHERE THEY'RE AT: Expectations are always high for Collingwood, that's the nature of the club and its supporters. Some individuals had very good years even though the side didn't - Steele Sidebottom, Adam Treloar, Taylor Adams and the super high-level consistency of Scott Pendlebury all produced.
Brodie Grundy and Jeremy Howe had very strong cases to be included in the final 22 for the All-Australian but just missed out.
WHAT THEY NEED: They need the opposite of wherever they decide to play Ben Reid. If he plays back, they need a forward and vice versa. Reid is an All-Australian centre-half back but he has the ability to play as a key forward and take the pressure of Darcy Moore, while the son-of-a-gun makes his way to a star of the game.
WHO THEY SHOULD TARGET: Jackson Trengove of Port Adelaide. It's always worrying when you are out of the side approaching the finals and that's what happened to him late in the season. He is a genuine key position player in stature, 200cm and 100kg. He has good hands and will help play on the opposition's monsters with Lynden Dunne. He'll also allow Howe to fly third man up. Trengove can swing forward if you want to swap Reid back and could do a bit of ruck work if Grundy needs a rest.
WHAT COACH NATHAN BUCKLEY SAID: "The reality is we are a side coming from a fair way back, with youth, to try and grow and develop. We haven't met expectations in regards to our progress and our growth. Do we just pack up, do we just give up on it? We are playing a lot of young players and they are getting a lot of exposure and they're performing pretty well. To get that last couple of per cent, maybe this is part of the journey they need to go through to realise how tough the comp is."
- with Anthony Colangelo
