Gary Ablett still feels like Geelong have the makings of an AFL premiership team despite their swift and unceremonious departure from the 2018 finals series at the hands of Melbourne.

But the two-time Brownlow Medal winner concedes a period of honest self-evaluation must follow Friday night’s 10.15 (75) to 6.10 (46) elimination final loss at the MCG.

“We need every individual to make sure that we’re having a good hard look at ourselves and working on the areas where we need to improve,” Ablett told reporters.

“… I think we’ve got the team to do it (win a premiership).

“But (Chris Scott) touched on it in the meeting … there are just a lot of areas where we need to improve. We’re going to work on that over the summer.”

After seven barren seasons with Gold Coast, Ablett played in his first final since the Cats’ 2010 prelim loss to Collingwood and led the way with 27 touches.

The 34-year-old will take time to reflect more fully on his first season back home with Geelong, but his initial assessment was that it has been an up and down year.

Despite his age, Ablett doesn’t plan to take an extended holiday to help him recover and prepare for his 18th AFL season.

“Obviously we’ll go away and have a break now but I don’t want to be away from the club for too long,” he said.

“I want to make sure that I’m getting back in there and doing everything I possibly can to have a good pre-season so I’m ready to go next year.

“It was a tough loss, I know how disappointed the boys all are. It’s an opportunity that we haven’t made the most of, but you can’t take away anything from Melbourne.

“We need to go away, we need to look at the tape and make sure we’re improving.”