Dogged by a spate of injuries to key players, Fremantle was forced to play 40 of the 46 players on its entire list this season, including five elevated rookies.
Rhys Palmer and Ryan Crowley suffered season-ending injuries in the early rounds, while Roger Hayden (eight games), Des Headland (nine), Michael Johnson (10) and Chris Mayne (five) had their seasons interrupted by injury.
The skipper maintained he was disappointed with the club's six-win season, but said the inevitable selection squeeze next year should help to drive Fremantle's improvement.
"It's all dependent on how the guys go with pre-season and how much work they get under their belt, but I think that's a really great thing for the club to have that competition for spots," Pavlich said from Fremantle Oval on Monday.
"This year ... we didn't have a huge amount of players to choose from each week.
"So the competition for spots and that desperation at training may not have been there at times.
"With the fact that we've played 40 players and the opportunity of other guys coming back into the team, that's going to be a really strong position for us."
Ben Bucovaz, Chris Hall and Brock O'Brien were the only senior-listed players not to factor for Fremantle this season, while rookies Clancee Pearce, Jay van Berlo and Luke Pratt are pushing for senior list spots in 2010.
Pavlich said debuting 11 players and getting games into them had been satisfying for the club in another lean season.
"That's certainly the positive, the process side of things, getting the game time into our younger players and ensuring our game plan is actually implemented as best as possible," he said.
"The great thing about having young players is they're enthusiastic, they're going to show a lot of promise and do great things for you.
"On the other hand, at times there's going to be a level of inconsistency.
"Certainly my role and the coaches' role over the pre-season is to ensure that next year we don't have that level of inconsistency."
Pavlich said Fremantle would again go to the draft to replenish its list with young players that can step straight into AFL football, but he said it would take time to get the majority of the club's young players performing consistently.
"That takes a huge amount of time for the guys to get to that point," he said.
"It probably does take a couple of seasons. So the quicker we get the majority of the list expecting to play well, the better."
It was a different end of season for Fremantle, with Pavlich detailing a "working week" for the players that involved season reviews, fitness and medical testing and team meetings.
"It's a full working week, certainly different to when I started 10 years ago," he said.
"Times have certainly changed; the end of season is a lot more low-key. We'll be in at eight o'clock [Tuesday morning] with meetings.
"We still get the chance to relax and enjoy each other's company, and it's an important part of a footy club. We still get that opportunity."
