It's been a frustrating summer of cricket for the Central Districts Stags this season in all three formats.
It's not enchanting but the sobering, yet not surprising, assessment from coach Heinrich Malan sets the tone for what the region's male domestic cricketers need to aspire to if they want to return next summer.
Asked what his evaluation was out of 10 for the Devon Hotel Central Districts Stags after the season-ending game yesterday in Dunedin, Malan replied: "Mmm ... I'd give them a four out of 10 or maybe more like three and a half."
The post-mortem came on the heels of a 106-run defeat to the Otago Volts in the final Ford Trophy (50-over) match at the University Oval yesterday.
In many respects the game epitomised the season's woes for captain Kieran Noema-Barnett and his predominantly young troops.
The dead rubber was symbolic of a CD season when the top-order batsmen failed to find traction consistently.
CD finished last for the second consecutive year in their HRV Twenty20 campaign, last in the Ford Trophy yesterday and second last in the four-day Plunket Shield as defending champions.
The Gary Stead-coached Canterbury Wizards, the shield champions, host T20 champions and ND Knights in the first preliminary final between the top qualifiers, respectively, at Hagley Oval, on Sunday. The third-placed Auckland Aces host the fourth qualifiers Wellington Firebirds at Eden Park No2 on the same day.
Malan, after his first summer at the CD helm, emphasised last night it was disappointing for the boys but "not the end of the world".
"It's a young squad but, unfortunately, some of the senior boys struggled as well and today was one of them," said the South African who took over from Aucklander Alan Hunt as CD opted for a new coach to implement the major association's plan to enter a new era.
Malan said the coaching and management stable intended to identify pockets of areas where some "old school" methods could be introduced for players to embrace.
It wasn't just a case of batting and bowling but understanding the mechanics of what constituted a game.
It was imperative players took that into next season.
The players must comprehend that earning a living and enjoying a transient but enchanting lifestyle over six months weren't the starting point for those aspiring to the game's higher echelons.
"Performance is what gives you the right to play."
Malan said they were going to have to make some hard calls before signing players next summer.
"The batting has been a real headache for us all season.
"When Krugs [Kruger van Wyk] is at No7 in the four-dayers that tells the story around our top order," he said of the former Black Cap and veteran wicketkeeper who showed traction and appeared to be the player who assumed the mantle of Mr Consistency from master batsman Mathew Sinclair who retired last summer.
"We'll just have to have a hard look at that [top-order batsmen]."
In the off season, some of the Stags were going overseas to ply their trade so CD intended to ensure they adhered to a disciplined regime expected of professionals.
"They'll have to take proper training, conditioning and communicating plans so we're all on the same page come November the first when the season starts again," he said.
Malan, who returns home to Pretoria on April 16 because his nine-month contract ends, will return on June 16 after CD extended his contract by a month for next summer.
Malan, who was at the helm of the Easterns Cricket first-class team as head coach, based in Benoni, Gauteng, in his previous stint, said CD strengthening and conditioning coach Nick Webb would put the players through the spin-dry cycle from May.
"The No1 thing is to execute our skills but also we need to compete."
The former first-class cricketer hastened to add CD had no intentions of "chasing everyone away and starting afresh".
The exercise was to cover all their bases. Bowling was no exception.
"We want to get young bowlers on the park more and have them prepare well in the off-season so their bodies will be older in another year and keep them at their peak a little longer."
Malan, 32, said Noema-Barnett also was learning his trade as captain but they would review leadership in its entirety, encompassing other seniors and their roles.
Was the season what Malan had envisaged?
"And more. It was a rollercoaster ride, to be fair," he said, considering 2014-15 his first proper season after the Stags players took "baby steps" this summer in a rate of learning to "swim from the deep end to the shore".