BRAD Scott says Essendon has a "lot of work to do" to bridge the gap to the competition's best teams, with upgrades needed on every playing line over the off-season.
The Bombers finished their 2024 campaign with a 20-point loss to Brisbane on Saturday night, storming home with five unanswered goals in the final term when the game was all but done.
LIONS v BOMBERS Full match coverage and stats
With 11 wins, 11 losses and a draw it leaves them in 11th position for the second straight year under Scott.
After being in the top four at the halfway mark of the year, they dropped away to lose six of their final seven matches.
"We need to improve our list, like everyone," he said.
"The simple answer is we're looking to get better.
"We're looking to improve all areas of the game. We've got some areas we'd like to improve forward, back and midfield.
"It's not one specific area … it's a build for us."
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Scott said there were positives to take from the season, pointing to the progress of Sam Durham and Jye Caldwell in the midfield and the eye-catching first years of Nate Caddy and Archie Roberts.
He said the final-quarter fight against the Lions was commendable.
"We're also not kidding ourselves," he said. "We were outclassed today by a better team that played better than we did.
"It's not going to be tweaks, we've got a lot of work to do.
"Everyone knows how tight the comp is … that's the exciting thing. A little bit of improvement, more than everyone else, can lead to pretty good things."
One major area Brisbane needs to improve over the next month if it wants to win an elusive premiership is its goalkicking.
The Lions kicked just 11 goals from 32 scoring shots (that included eight rushed behinds) and should have buried the Bombers long before full-time.
Following poor kicking in losses against Greater Western Sydney and Collingwood in the past fortnight, coach Chris Fagan said it was an area of concern.
"The game shouldn't have been as close as it was," he said.
"This is what we've done for the last three weeks and I'm just hopeful we've got it out of our system, and we won't see it again for the rest of the year.
"Sometimes it gets in here (head) and that's the bit you need to work on the most.
"I'm a bit disappointed about what's happened over the last three weeks because it has cost us the opportunity to finish in the top four.
"But at the same time, we've finished fifth and got a home final. When you consider where we were at the halfway mark of the season, it has been a great effort from our boys."
Fagan confirmed defender Jack Payne would play in the VFL next weekend in a bid to prove his fitness for the elimination final the following week as he overcomes a foot injury.
Brandon Starcevich, who missed the win over the Bombers with "hamstring awareness", will also be available in a fortnight.
