David Warner admits that Australia's batsmen have fallen into a debilitating pattern of middle-order batting collapses that are wasting decent starts, and also says he does not know how the problem will be rectified.
Having made 97 in an opening stand of 158 with Shaun Marsh, Warner said he was demoralised by watching the loss of all Australia's 10 wickets for 86, surrendering prime position in the WACA Test to South Africa despite the visiting team's loss of Dale Steyn to a serious shoulder injury.
The passage of play mirrored numerous innings on the recent tour of Sri Lanka despite vastly different conditions, and Warner said he could see the pattern stretching even further back, to the 2015 Ashes tour.
"I feel there has been a trend as well in the last 12 and maybe 18 months that also follows on to when we were in England and we were playing there," Warner said. "It's tough to see as an opening batter sometimes when you get off to those starts as a top four and then you sort of fall away that easily.
"It's quite hard to take that when you're in the change rooms. I can't really remember, unless we go back to Hobart last year, where we really capitalised in that middle period. That's something we've really got to work hard on, and at the moment I don't really have the answers.
"But we have to really knuckle down as a batting unit and try to build partnerships. We always talk about someone going on to get a big hundred in the top four, but it's on everyone else in the middle as well to put their hand up and accept some responsibility to move forward as well and create that partnership."
The Australian middle order seems an area for particular concern, most notably the failings of the allrounder Mitchell Marsh and the wicketkeeper Peter Nevill. Both were put more or less on notice before this match by the selection chairman Rod Marsh, but neither could assert themselves on day two - Nevill admittedly on the wrong end of an apparently incorrect decision after making a start. Warner said Marsh needed to work out how he batted best.
"You have to back yourself as a player, whether or not there's mixed messages there, him as a player knows and understands the game," Warner said. "He's here at this level for a reason, he's been chosen and selected in the team for a reason, that's to score runs and take wickets. He has to work out what he has to do to score runs and take wickets for the team. Then for his sake he'll gain a bit of momentum.
"I've been at the other end, I go back to a game at Wellington where he came out and won us the game against New Zealand, he played his strokes and played beautifully. That's the Mitch Marsh we know as well. I'm pretty sure for him as an individual I don't think he's clouded in any way."
Pondering the state of the game with Steyn ruled out and the pitch currently playing well but likely to deteriorate, Warner said the first session on day three would be vital, with early wickets a must.
"We've seen here before once it's a great batting surface as it is. If you get yourself in, make the most of it and capitalise I think anything's chase-able," Warner said. "They need to bat for two days if they can with two frontline bowlers, so we have to come out and bowl well. We're going to have to work really hard in that first session.
"They've still got two very, very good fast bowlers, and we've seen the wickets they're capable of with the ball going both ways. We have to respect that. We can't look too far forward. We've got to bowl well first tomorrow, then we've got to know that you get through that first period with the new ball they can only revert back to spin. We've got to really knuckle down and apply that pressure on their two frontline bowlers.
"I'm disappointed for Dale, all the amp and the talk in this series, I know how pumped he would've been. I know he's had this injury for a while, I just hope he can get back on the park."