QUEANBEYAN Squash president Jeremy Keen says the club will likely scale back its ACT Premier Division commitment next pennant season.
Queanbeyan fielded two teams in Canberra’s highest division for the first time this season but with the club’s top talent diluted, neither side proved competitive.
Neither of Queanbeyan’s two premier division sides will feature in this season’s finals after finishing fifth and sixth on the standings.
In light of the results, Keen said the club would move to consolidate its forces in future.
‘‘It’s been a little bit disappointing but we may have stretched ourselves too thin,’’ Keen admitted. ‘‘We could have fielded one team and been very competitive but with two teams it just became very difficult to maintain numbers throughout the season.
‘‘Not having a reliable four showing up each week hurt the two sides more than anything. We’ll probably be a bit more conservative next season and put one strong side in rather than scraping two together.’’
This season’s results mean that Queanbeyan will not field a team in the premier division finals for the first time since returning to top-flight competition in 2011.
Queanbeyan was left struggling after a long-term injury to recruit Greg Manning while division one regular Elliott Geddes also missed a large chunk of the club’s campaign.
While the wins failed to fall Queanbeyan’s way this season, Keen said fielding two teams had achieved the goal of providing more of the club’s players with experience in the top grade. ‘‘It’s given a lot of players exposure at a higher level which has been a positive,’’ he said.
‘‘You’ve got guys like [division 2/3 player] James Rusk playing division one and then going back to his own grade and creaming them.’’
The Autumn Pennant finals kicked off on Monday with up to 10 Queanbeyan teams set to feature in the next three weeks.
Queanbeyan has already moved through to the grand final in division 15 with sides also in grand final running in division three, four, six, eight, 12 and 16.
