While nine teams remain in the finals hunt, nine others are about to enter full off-season mode.

Some clubs need to overhaul their game plans or lists, while some might need a change at the top.

In the latest episode of the Midweek Tackle digital-only show ‘Tackle The Headline’, Herald Sun reporters Lauren Wood, Glenn McFarlane and Jon Ralph nominate the most pressing issue at all bottom-nine clubs that must be addressed this summer.

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SYDNEY SWANS

Jon Ralph says: “They need a key forward. I don’t think Carlton should trade Harry McKay, but if I’m Sydney I’m throwing the absolute kitchen sink at him. I understand he’s not a player who churns out 23 games a year, but he’s averaged 19 over the last four years before a couple of issues and depression this year. He kicked 49 goals last year and he’s won multiple games off his own boot this year. I still think he’s a premier forward in the competition – and if you’re Sydney, he’s in that right window. I love Joel Amartey, but he doesn’t play very often and Logan McDonald kicks a lot of goals but in that Ty Vickery mould, he doesn’t crash a lot of packs. So Harry McKay is my No. 1 priority.

“He (Jamarra Ugle-Hagan) is a hope for them. Scott Gullan did a deep dive on this bloke, but they should be doing the deepest dive of all-time … You’d want to make a lot of calls to know this is not a bloke who would make your season challenging from an off-field perspective next year.”

Trade update: Nas and Harley | 02:59

PORT ADELAIDE

Glenn McFarlane says: “There’s a couple of signatures that would be really interesting: ‘Nas’ (Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera) and Zak Butters. But the Josh Carr charm offensive needs to happen now. We know he’s going to step in to a team who’s not rebuilding, but they’ve got a lot of work to do with that list. That’s the thing I’d be looking for with Port Adelaide.”

Jon Ralph says: “Everyone says: ‘How do they get a Nas deal done if he wants to come?’ So you give away your next 10 years of draft picks. But then if Zak Butters wants to leave next year, you match that free agency deal, you get those 10 years of draft picks back. So there is a way where you’re not basically mortgaging your future if you have to give the next three years of draft picks or multiple picks, given they haven’t got a first-rounder this year.”

CARLTON

Glenn McFarlane says: “Total game plan overhaul change. Let’s blow it up and start again – because watching Carlton at the moment is the most labour-intensive you’ve ever seen. I’m exhausted watching it and I just think how would the Blues supporters be feeling? So they need a total game plan overhaul. Their run out of the back six is awful and they’ve got to fix that in a hurry, but they need faster ball movement as well.

Jon Ralph says: “I’d be asking about Bobby Hill … I know he signed a new contract there, but if it is that he decided to have a fresh change, there’d be clubs out there right now looking at Bobby Hill and asking: ‘Is he gettable?’ They will bring back a lot of speed with the likes of Jagga Smith, Elijah Hollands, Sam Walsh and Matt Cottrell. So bring those four players into your side – and maybe you bring in the likes of an Ollie Florent – and all of a sudden you play a new game plan and you’ve got the building blocks to be able to exhilarate the speed.”

Razor Ray explains 6-6-6 confusion | 02:51

MELBOURNE

Jon Ralph says: “Isn’t it remarkable that Carlton and Melbourne, both play ‘contest and defence’, both have got an old out-fashioned game plan, both have got coaches with leadership in spades but not able to really find the best way in, both have got teams who should win games then all of a sudden lose them, both of them are struggling in terms of their early picks.

“We all love Simon Goodwin, we all like him as a person, we love the fact that he’s a premiership coach. But it’s a tough decision – and maybe in the end it’ll be ‘we move him on and we get fresh ideas’. I don’t begrudge them that decision or think it’s easy, but that’s the way it might eventually go.”

ST KILDA

Glenn McFarlane says: “It’s three words, with a hyphen: Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera. And three words again: Tom De Koning. The three-word signatures, get them done now. If they get those guys in, are they a fluky chance for top eight next year?”

Jon Ralph says: “Judge Tom De Koning on his first 10 weeks of the year when he was superb. I understand it’s outlandish money, he won’t justify it, but they’ve got to get some of those stars in and that will help them with Nas Wanganeen-Milera and the stars of the future, who will see that some players are staying and coming to this football club.”

Trade whispers: The ruck merry-go-round | 04:54

ESSENDON

Jon Ralph says: “I’m getting the absolute star (high performance boss). They can’t get someone like Peter Burge, who’s amazing at Hawthorn. If it costs them as much as it costs their senior coach, if it’s an $800,000 person whoever it might be, if it is Darren Burgess who’s in contract – you just go and get that person in. Not only because they’re the best, but also because they give those players some confidence that ‘OK, we’ve got the best here’. Their defensive structure in Round 1 next year: Jordan Ridley, Zach Reid, Ben McKay – all of them are basically done for this season, all of them have got massive recurring injury problems right now. That sends shivers down the spine of Essendon fans: ‘Are we ever going to get these blokes right?’ That’s a challenge.”

RICHMOND

Glenn McFarlane says: “More picks. They’ve just got to do it again. They’ve got more picks than the biggest building site in Melbourne.”

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NORTH MELBOURNE

Glenn McFarlane says: “They just need a defensive structure. Desperately need that.”

WEST COAST EAGLES

Jon Ralph says: “Sign up Harley Reid. You lobby, you push hard, there’s a little bit of brinkmanship and you say: ‘We’re not going to pay $24 million. We’re going to pay $18 million for Harley. If you want to go to St Kilda, who might be offering that money, go for your life.’ So you try and bluff them and if they say ‘no he’s going to go’, you pay the money. But at some stage, whatever you pay Harley Reid, he will be worth that money many times over. He’s going to be that good a player.”