Wagga City Wanderers president Brendan Flanagan has thrown his support behind Capital Football's decision to cancel the remainder of the season.
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The season has been at a standstill for the Wanderers for close to five weeks and Capital Football made the difficult decision to conclude all of their winter competitions on Thursday.
It was a decision that did not surprise the Wanderers, with both ACT and regional NSW still in lockdown.
"I totally understand it," Flanagan said.
"There's a lot more going on in life than football-related stuff. It's just another thing that makes life a little more unpleasant for everyone, when you take away all the fun things, I guess.
"It's disappointing but it's the way it is and we totally understand the decision, accept it and support it. But yeah it's just one of those things that's making this whole situation a little bit more unbearable and unpleasant."
The decision was particularly disappointing for a number of the Wanderers' junior teams, who had put themselves in contention for a crack at a title.
That was not the case for the senior men's and women's teams.
The Wanderers men, the defending NPL Two champions, won four of their 17 games but sat in fifth position on the table.
The Wanderers women, who play in the top division, had won just the two games.
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Flanagan said the club will still take a lot out of the shortened season.
"Senior men, in particular, started with a completely new, revamped squad and they had developed and grown," he said.
"We had Pascoe Cup players come in, who spent the season getting their head around the lift in quality and speed of the game and the standard you have to play at every minute of every game, every week to stay competitive because it's different, you don't have those games where you can lapse. If you switch off you get punished for it at a higher level.
"It's like any sport, if you go up a level, you've got to lift, if you switch off at any minute, you get punished for it. You could see by the end of the season, we've built and built and built, even though it was a disjointed season, we were up there with any of the teams, by the end of the season, when we were switched on for full games."
Flanagan said it was important the club continues to provide participants the opportunity to play at a higher level.
"That's what we're about, offering those opportunities for local players to play at a higher level and be the best players they can be," he said.
"And there's more and more choosing to challenge themselves and do that. The whole dynamic's changed now from the negativity and the majority of the local clubs feeling threatened.
"It's about more than just winning a cup at the end of the year, it's about improving your sport. One having the other, makes it all thrive. If you improve you sport and the quality of players within your sport, then the whole sport benefits.
"It shouldn't be us and them. Thankfully most people in the local community realise that now."
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