After his "most difficult" season in charge at Brisbane Roar was brought to an end by Melbourne City, John Aloisi will quickly turn his attention to re-fashioning and improving the A-League club for next season.
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A mass exodus is expected at the Roar, 2-0 losers in Friday night's elimination final.
The first post-season departure was confirmed on the AAMI Park pitch, when Fahid Ben Khalfallah confirmed he will hang up his boots after 18 years in the game.
A-League goalkeeping legend Michael Theo has previously declared his retirement.
More will follow, with Italian marquee Massimo Maccarone (38 years old), club captain Matt McKay (35) and Brett Holman (34) among a staggering 17 uncontracted players.
Others - like Corey Brown, heavily linked to Melbourne Victory - will find new A-League homes.
"I'm sure that a few players will know that their time might be up," Aloisi said after the match.
"We'll start to announce signings and players re-signing in the next week or so.
"We'll start pre-season on the fourth of June and the majority of our players will be there, new signings and that."
"We're already building for next season.
"We'll be better next season. One hundred per cent we'll be better."
Aloisi said his third campaign at Brisbane - characterised by off-field blunders and injuries on the pitch - had been his hardest as a coach.
"It's easy to lead when things are going well and things are easy. Its difficult to lead in a crisis," he said.
"We had a major crisis this season.
"I've learned a lot about myself, I've learned a lot about the group and I've learned a lot about the club. We're heading in the right direction now."
Against City, Aloisi said his side weren't allowed to play.
"When you look at it, where we've come from to get to (the finals) it probably took too much out of us," he said.
"But we're not making excuses ... we weren't close enough to getting the result we wanted."
Ben Khalfallah finishes his career with 14 caps for Tunisia, the 2013 French Cup with Bordeaux and the 2015 A-League title with Melbourne Victory.
"I loved it and that's it," he told Fox Sports of his career.
"I'm grateful with Victory to give me this chance and Brisbane.
"We've been through things I couldn't imagine but that's life and now we're going to do something else."
Australian Associated Press
