Otago came within one goal of upsetting Southland on Friday and sneaking into the tournament final against the eventual winner Auckland Waitakere.
Instead, it had to play Canterbury in the play-off for third and fourth and let itself down with a below par performance, losing 66-39.
Two days earlier, Otago dispatched Canterbury by 11 goals to make the top four.
But despite the dramatic turn around in form, Jones said fourth place was a good result.
"It was one of those games where everyone's tanks were pretty empty," she explained.
"We wanted to play netball because it was the last game of the season, but I think we were pretty burnt out physically and mentally.
"But I think it has been a great campaign. We started with no wing attack, five goal shooters and one goal attack and [finished with] quite a young team who have come on and developed."
"All 11 players got on court and that is great development for those players, but also for netball in Otago."
After the heartbreaking 46-45 loss to Southland, the team found it hard to get up for a match with little riding on it.
With Canterbury the hungrier of the two sides the game degenerated into a lopsided encounter.
The final was just as one-sided with Auckland Waitakere demolishing Southland 47-33 in Invercargill on Saturday.
Classy shooter Cathrine Latu landed 29 of her 32 attempts and former Silver Ferns defender Anna Scarlett helped shut down Southland's shooting combination of Ashleigh Smith and Julianna Naoupu.
Both Latu and Scarlett made the tournament team.
Otago defender Emma Moynihan was rewarded for some consistent performances with a spot in the tournament team, as was Otago wing defence Hayley Saunders.
"Emma was very consistent throughout the campaign. She was just the intercept queen, really. We probably averaged between 32 and 44 turnovers a game and a high percentage of those would have been Emma's.
"That was also created by the defence in front of her but she has a great ability to read the play and has that self-belief and confidence to go and hunt those intercepts."
Saunders improved during the tournament and has benefiting from more court time.
Jones has led Otago in four national championship campaigns and hinted it might be her last in charge.
"I've done 1400km in the last month or two," the Alexandra-based coach said when asked if she was keen to return.
"So there might be a lot of other things in Central Otago that I'd like to do. I wanted to go out on a win and we were just so close. But time will tell."
