Otago coach Cory Brown said his side should be proud of the way it played this season but its busy schedule at the end of the year may have caught up with it.
Otago went down 34-14 to Wellington in an ITM Cup championship semifinal to end a season in which it scored plenty of points and also leaked a few.
Brown said the side had made some real strides this season and some players had put their hands up.
''We scored a lot of good tries and we have to be proud of the way we played the game. A lot of guys put their hands up and in the coming weeks will hopefully be rewarded by getting contracts at the next level,'' Brown said.
''We had a tough start [to the season] but we made some progress and the team should be really proud of the effort they have put in.
''They have made some moves in the right direction and if they can keep learning, keep getting better and we can keep the core guys together than we should be in a good place next year.''
He did not know of any player moving on and would be talking to players in the coming weeks about future prospects.
As for Saturday night's game, Brown said Otago struggled to get into the match.
''Nothing seemed to be working for us. Everything that we tried or did, not much happened, and that was a bit disappointing.
''But I'm still really proud of the way the guys got stuck in and kept working hard all night. I think those three games that we had in 10 days may have taken more of a toll than we thought.
''Wellington played extremely well. They played with a lot of structure, which they don't normally do. Some of their key guys really stood up and had an influence on the game.''
The Otago lineout struggled and Brown said Wellington had obviously decided to contest the throw ins, which was something that had not done all year.
Wellington also put pressure on the breakdown and that led to Otago having to put more men into the ruck and that had an impact when the blue and golds tried to get their attack going.
The Otago side had beaten Wellington in the regular season 37-36, with a try in the final minute of the game, and Wellington was up for the match and to get some form of revenge.
Head knocks to centre Matt Faddes and replacement halfback Kaide Whiting late in the game did not help matters.
Faddes was concussed right at the end of the first half and his absence was felt in the second half as he was a key attacking weapon for the side.
Otago finished the season having scored 49 tries, which was more than twice as many as last year.
In the ITM Cup premiership final, Canterbury will host Auckland on Saturday night.
Canterbury easily defeated Taranaki 46-20 in its semifinal in Christchurch, and Auckland beat Tasman 44-24 in Auckland on Friday night.
