After a spirited but ultimately unsuccessful display against the Reds in Brisbane on Saturday night, with the Highlanders beaten 38-36, the side returned to Dunedin yesterday to start the process of debriefs and player assessments.
The two bonus points from Saturday night's match left the Highlanders in 12th place, one place below last year's finish.
It was supposed to be a year of progress for the Highlanders, but the side went back on the competition ladder, the only real statistic that matters.
Moore is keen to stay on board but his future must be under a cloud, along with his assistants, Peter Russell and Barry Matthews.
Moore's future is up to the New Zealand Rugby Union, and it is hard to see him returning next year, the last year of his contract.
Russell is at the end of a two-year contract while Matthews had signed for just one year.
If there is to be a change, the obvious candidates to take over are Ranfurly Shield-winning Southland duo David Henderson and Simon Culhane.
Others in the mix could be Wellington coach and former Otago loose forward Jamie Joseph, Canterbury coach Rob Penney and possibly Force and former All Black coach John Mitchell.
A wild card may be former Crusaders assistant Vern Cotter, who is now coaching in France but wants to come back to New Zealand.
Highlanders board members and staff, including new project manager Roger Clark, will start a thorough review on what went wrong in the next few days, with NZRU input.
Moore's future should be known before the end of next month.
While disappointed not to pick up more wins, Moore said he wanted to continue for a fourth season in the job.
"It has been frustrating as a coach when we've got a lot of potential, with some guys very, very young at this level. The Reds are probably an example when they have kept some key guys for four to five years and it is now just starting to bear fruit," Moore said.
"I definitely want to be here. I'm passionate about wanting these guys to succeed, passionate about Highlanders rugby, passionate about the franchise."
Moore said the thing which had been frustrating this year was at times the side had shown what it could do but just could not do it often enough.
"The thing is when you've got teams on the ropes you've got to really take them down. When we showed we could do that, we did it well."
If he wants to keep his job, Moore could point to the second half of Saturday night's match as the team scored 33 points, including five tries.
But the first half would not be in his resume, as the Highlanders leaked points and failed to get out of first gear, turning 24-3 down.
Moore gave his players a severe dressing down at halftime but said he simply wanted them to play rugby.
"We just did not play enough footy in the first half. We just had to get back to what we had set out to do. I thought the boys knew what we had to do and had to get excited out there."
Near the end of the game, the Highlanders kicked poorly, with Moore conceding they were "nothing" kicks.
Israel Dagg had a chance to win the game after 80 minutes had ticked by but his long-range penalty kick was short.
Moore felt the side probably should have tapped the ball and run, but Dagg had thought he could get it over so they went with that option.
