Adelaide captain Simon Goodwin intends to let the dust settle on his side's numbing AFL finals exit before addressing the matter of whether all their thirty-somethings can go on to 2010.
It was a shellshocked Crows squad that touched down in Adelaide yesterday afternoon to face plenty of questions about the future of the playing group and the undoubted mental scars that will linger from from Saturday night's defeat to Collingwood.
Of the older heads, 32-year-old Goodwin played decently out of defence as he has done all year, but none of Tyson Edwards (33), Andrew McLeod (33) or a run-down Brett Burton (31) had nights to remember.
Other older players like Robert Shirley, Michael Doughty and Trent Hentschel also struggled at times, leaving the Adelaide flame to be carried by the likes of David Mackay, Bernie Vince and Kurt Tippett.
Goodwin said it was difficult to ponder the future so soon after a defeat as "shattering" as any he had experienced, but agreed the nature of the exit left a distinct tinge of "unfinished business".
"I think it'll certainly have an impact on it, it hurt pretty bad and there's some unfinished business there for sure," said Goodwin.
"None of us have made any real decisions yet, so we'll sit down with the club and do that over coming weeks.
"We'll take our time and make sure the decision's right for both the player and the club.
"It's important we all just take a breath now, relax and take a couple of weeks to have a good think about it."
The imponderables from Saturday night are almost too numerous to mention, from the missed shots on goal in the second quarter and the team's instinctive switch onto the defensive at the first hint of a Collingwood revival, which had the effect of turning a faint Magpie sniff into what Goodwin termed a "big blow on".
Then there was the hamstring strain to Chris Knights, which appeared to ruin a Crows forward structure that had been so beautifully balanced and consequently dominant for a month prior.
In reviewing the match, Goodwin did not shy away from the profuse third-term bleeding that had cost his side dearly.
"Definitely that momentum in the third quarter we just couldn't stop the bleeding and they got a really big blow on," he said.
"It's very hard to reflect at the moment because the group is so shattered, but there were certainly some positives in the last quarter to come from the position we were in at three-quarter-time.
"But at the same time, in a final we've bled in the third quarter and bled pretty badly."
Such a result can either serve as the impetus for a renewed drive on premiership success or become a millstone around the players' necks, and Goodwin was adamant it would not become the latter.
"We've got to use it as a driving force for next season," he said.
"The group is hurting pretty bad and we'll use that in our training, our pre-season, our preparation and look forward to the coming year.
"It's a hard way to finish, but if there's a positive there's certainly a lot of pain there that we can use as a motivating factor."
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