So now things get interesting for the Western Bulldogs.

Friday night's loss to St Kilda at Etihad Stadium pretty much ends the club's bid for the finals. This was, as we were reminded about 150 times over the course of the week, " an elimination final in June".

But by virtue of the loss and a position well towards the back of the pack chasing the finals, the epitaph for 2011 has been written. And now the fun begins.

Do the Bulldogs start a major overhaul of the side? Seven debutants have already played for the club in 2012. How many more get a run? Does ruckman Ayce Cordy get a good run for the next six weeks at the expense of, say Ben Hudson, who now is what you would call a list clogger. Should the Dogs put Barry Hall out his misery now and save themselves the trouble later in the year?

Who makes the call? Is it David Smorgon and the club board? is it James Fantasia as the head of football? Or is it Rodney Eade as the senior coach?

And what of Eade? This premiership window would appear to be shut, but do three consecutive preliminary finals before this year earn him the right to be charged with the next rebuild? Does he have the patience and the desire to oversee what might be another three-to-five year rebuilding plan?

And should Smorgon be making that decision? Smorgon, in this column's estimation, has been an outstanding president of the Western Bulldogs, but if there are those plotting to move him on, then they need to declare themselves now, make their bid to become involved and if they prove to be successful, then they should be the ones plotting the medium and long-term football strategy at the club.

We've seen other examples of new boards inheriting existing officials and it sometimes doesn't work. Ask Paul McNamee about that.

The Bulldogs need to start making some hard decisions and to digress just a bit, so too do the AFL with respect to the advantage rule. The Dogs were robbed a likely goal after Daniel Cross took two steps with the ball after a free kick to teammate Nathan Djerrkura, and was then tackled, with the Saints then getting the goal on the rebound, a goal which in the final wash-up of the game.

Players have enough to do without having to umpire the game. In the normal course of events, if Cross had decided that he didn't have the advantage and Djerkurra was allowed to take the free kick, neither side would have had any cause for complaints.

The change to the advantage rule at the start of the season is one of those "good idea at the time" type of things, that the AFL can bring a quick end to if it has the inclination.

A 'mea culpa' from Adrian Anderson and Jeff Gieschen on Monday morning, wouldn't leave the AFL pair with egg on their faces. It would be called leadership.