QUEANBEYAN State League coach Rena Spears says it’s time for the association to return to the top division of ACT Netball.
Spears’ comments have come in the wake of Queanbeyan’s 50-41 State League 2 grand final win against Tuggeranong last Sunday.
The win means the club is assured of promotion to State League 1 next season should the Queanbeyan Netball Association support such a move.
While no final decision has yet been made, Spears indicated her preference would be to step up in 2013.
“It’s something that we as an association will talk about but I think it’s time,” Spears said. “We’ve had a couple of years to build and we’ve done that now so next year we should be looking at first division.
“Those are my thought and we’ll have to see what the other members of the executive think but I’d say they would want the same thing.”
The comprehensive nature of Queanbeyan’s grand final win over Tuggeranong has only added credence to the club’s State League 1 ambitions.
Despite holding just a two-goal lead at half-time, Queanbeyan never appeared in any real danger and maintained a comfortable margin throughout the third and fourth quarters.
The result was particularly satisfying for Queanbeyan given the side had lost both its regular season games to the South Canberra club.
“I was told that Tuggeranong thought they’d wipe us off the court,” Spears said following the win. “They just thought they had has matched across the court whereas we knew their goal shooter [Victoria Schmall] was their main weapon.
“We did a very good job of stopping the service into her and they didn’t have many other answers.”
Spears paid particular tribute to her defensive end and the work of wing defence Carly Res who was a stand-out for Queanbeyan.
“Our defenders just kept bringing the ball out for us all game,” she said. Carly in particular had a very, very good game. She turned over so many balls for us which was really important in cutting off that service.”