Kristen Veal has been a steady and measured figure for the Canberra Capitals in a rollercoaster of a season, but the mention of being WNBL coach of the year does make her visibly uncomfortable.
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"I take it with a grain of salt," Veal told The Canberra Times with a hint of an eyeroll.
"Look, there's eight coaches in the league; one got fired, there's seven left and five nominees."
Veal was one of five up for the coaching gong at Sunday night's WNBL awards ceremony, alongside Melbourne's Chris Lucas, Perth's Ryan Petrik, Bendigo's Kennedy Kereama, and Townsville's Shannon Seebohm, who won the accolade.
Three of the four coaches up for the award are headed to the WNBL finals, with Bendigo Spirit narrowly missing out.
That left the Capitals' Veal as the obvious odd-one-out in the group, after a difficult season where Canberra only posted two wins and finished last on the ladder. But that second part provided an explanation for her nomination.
Each coach and team captain cast a vote for first, second and third after judging every coach's performance over the entire season, meaning Veal's effort through adversity did not go unnoticed.
She was considered a top-five coach in the league by her peers, regardless of the Capitals' win-loss record.
"If there's nominations because we didn't quit and we showed character, if that's why we got votes then I'm so grateful and proud that's what other coaches are seeing in my coaching and in what we're doing," she said.
There were several near-wins this season where the Capitals were right in it, only to have victory fade late, sometimes in heartbreaking circumstances.
Against much higher-ranked teams they rarely looked severely outclassed, as seen in near-upsets in their final two games of the year against the Melbourne Boomers and Perth Lynx.
Veal's debut as head coach has thrown every curveball it could at her.
Player exits, multiple injury hurdles from game one to round 16, unexpected mid-season recruiting, and all with a young squad - it was a constant test.
But Veal has emerged out the other side better for it and feels ready to attack the 2023-24 WNBL season with better results.
"I've not stopped learning," the coach said.
"Day one to now, the lessons are massive.
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"It'll be really great to sit down with Graffy [Capitals boss Carrie Graf] and unpack some of those lessons and cement them in for next year. I want to round out all the other things I do.
"Putting together solid rosters, retaining players, putting game plans together and having good in-game coaching - you want to be the complete package, not just someone that that people have a lot of respect for because they have heart.
"I want to have a lot of heart, and also be really good at what I do."
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