THE Western Bulldogs and Richmond have shut up shop for 2015 after their elimination final defeats. So where do they go from here?

Western Bulldogs

Coach Luke Beveridge didn't really want to contemplate what comes next for the Western Bulldogs late on Saturday night, and who could blame him?

It had been a hell of a ride for the Bulldogs this year, but it ended in brutal fashion against Adelaide in a game all the key indicators suggest the Bulldogs should have won.

There's probably not one glaring item on the Bulldogs 'to-do' list, but a few smaller items that will need attention.

• Six things we learned from Western Bulldogs v Adelaide

The review of the game will make for difficult viewing, with a few missed targets, broken tackles and some decisions they'd like to have back, sure to be highlighted.

As the coach noted, there is much to be pleased about as the Bulldogs progressed from 14th to eighth, but the defeat has to "burn and sting" a bit.

In terms of list management, the Dogs have many of the key elements in place. Departing Bomber Jake Carlisle would be a huge addition to the backline and would be an upgrade on a unit that was headed by Joel Hamling and Fletcher Roberts on Saturday night. Carlton and St Kilda are leading the running, but the Bulldogs need to get an audience with him because he would fit in superbly.

Off the field, the Western Bulldogs have claims on a slice of the Friday night football pie. Beveridge said that even one game would be nice, but the Dogs are so exciting and so watchable that they should earn more than that. You'd think a Bulldogs-Crows rematch would be on the cards, at the very least.

Richmond

Tiger types will be feeling the depths of despair. And who can blame them? Three years, three straight elimination final defeats. 

• Three years of heartbreaking Richmond elimination final defeats
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The psychologists might be in demand every bit as much as the sports scientists at Punt Road over the summer. This loss will sting longer and harder than the Carlton capitulation of two years ago because this time, Richmond really did seem to be the best-credentialled of the teams placed fifth-to-eighth to make a run to at least the preliminary finals. 

• Six things we learned from Richmond v North Melbourne

All the Tigers can do is keep presenting and hope that their luck will turn. This is a team that has beaten Fremantle and the Sydney Swans on the road and the Hawks at the MCG. The list demographics remain sound and it is a mature playing group. After a 2-4 start, the Tigers didn't throw the baby out with the bath water; they 'cracked in', as they say, and won 13 of their next 16 to make the finals.

But they will bear watching as free agency and the trade period kick into gear. Chris Yarran and Adam Treloar have been linked to the Tigers, while they may also choose to enter the Matthew Kreuzer stakes, to reunite him at AFL level with his best mate from the Northern Knights, Trent Cotchin.  

Richmond fans are going to demand change of some sort. They'll want a big name or two moved on, just so the club can appear to be doing something. They'll want a level of discomfort and some edge around the place. They'll certainly be asking questions of how the skipper, Cotchin, gets just three kicks in a cut-throat final. 

• 'I let the boys down,' Cotch concedes

But that's the old Richmond. The Peggy O'Neal-Brendon Gale-Damien Hardwick era has been marked by stability and calm. There is a plan at Richmond and they have stuck to it rigidly. But is it time for a tweak?

How the leaders at Richmond deal with all the outside noise at Punt Road will be one of the talking points of the off-season.