Von Kwiatkowski said the game was "a chain of bad circumstances," and even if they did beat Marist and win the title, the team would be heading into the Central League playoff games against Wainuiomata hobbled and hurt with four players unavailable due to injuries or suspension.
"What good would it have done if we went into the playoff games and we get destroyed? Sometimes that can work against you."
Keeping 10 clean sheets and conceding only nine goals in their 16 games, von Kwiatkowski said they have a great foundation to build upon and they are well ahead of their three-year plan to make the Central League, a competition the club haven't been in since 2000.
"We aren't ready for Central League just yet. We need to continue building our team personnel."
Meanwhile, Versatile Wanganui City will continue to ply their trade in the Horizons Premiership in 2021 after a dominant season which saw them drop points in only two games.
Head coach Kelvin Francis said they weren't sure how 2020 would go with a young squad that included 10 first team debutants.
Francis said continuing to develop those youth players as well as creating a reserve team were key to the side succeeding in the future.
"We aren't ready to go Federation League is because we don't have a side below it," he said.
"My plan is to keep the team in the Horizons league, create a reserve team in the local league and then if we are ready to go up to the Federation League in 2022, we will go up.
"We don't want to do this yo-yo thing, we want to try to go in, stay in and be consistent."
City were dominant all year, scoring 81 goals and conceding just 20. Striker Anthony Bell was the golden boot for the league with 27 goals for the campaign.
It was all Whanganui at the top of the Horizons Premiership, with Whanganui Athletic Reserves securing second.
Age group football
With the senior football season wrapped up, Athletic and City begin preparing their youth teams for the U-19 Labour Day weekend tournament in Napier with a classic derby clash today at Wembley Park.
Coach Francis said it was hard to see how the City under-19s will go after not attending the tournament for quite a number of years.
"It's just a good chance to get out of the grass and play some football, for both teams, without anything really on the line.
"They've trained together, but it's a big difference getting out on the grass and playing."
Athletic coach Peter Czerwonka said a clash against City was always special.
"They're all looking forward to it. They are really looking forward to this weekend, they will be buzzing."
Czerwonka said the boys are hoping to head into the tournament on a high after getting out of the group stage for the first time in years in 2019 .
"A lot of these players are part of the senior set up and everyone kind of forgets how young they really are. It's wicked to watch them step out to the park against their own age group and then you really get the feeling of how much they have developed."
A six team U-15 Central tournament is also taking place at Wembley Park today.
Rowing
Rowing makes its long-awaited return to the awa today, with the Whanganui Rowing Association hosting an Inter Provincial Regatta with Wellington.
President Philippa Baker-Hogan said the event hadn't been held since 2010.
The regatta will start from 9am, with each team of eight competing in a series of different boat races with points accumulated on the basis of three points for a win, two points for second and one point for third. The eight person team with the most points will win the Graeme Moran Trophy.
All races will be over 1100m across six lanes. All events are Open grade.
The Blinkhorne & Carrol Tonks 5km race is on Sunday, the final race of the winter.
Croquet
Due to Covid-19, the Wanganui Croquet Club Winter Cup has been delayed numerous times, with the event taking place last weekend.
It was an open handicap event which attracted 20 entries including 14 men and six women.
After two days of competition and four rounds of section play, four finalists emerged for a round-robin.
Neville Parker came out on top, ahead of Ray Beaven, Peter Thiele and Paul Smith.
League
The Mid Central Vipers women will look to bounce back from a tough game against Auckland side Akarana, going down 48-8.
Coach Alan Jackson he was extremely proud of the second half effort considering they were 30-nil down heading into the changing rooms.
They fly down to Christchurch this morning to take on Canterbury tomorrow. Both teams are looking to bounce back from heavy defeats and the game should be very much up for grabs, Jackson said.
The Vipers have a young squad with four 18-year-olds and 17-year-old Paris Paul, who will start at hooker against Canterbury.
