By Chris Wilson

Audio books and a gutsy effort from the Canberra Capitals have made it a better than expected season for coach Tom Maher.

Two things worried Maher when he was appointed as a temporary replacement for Capitals coach Carrie Graf at the beginning of the Women's National Basketball League Season.

The first was the boring three-hour commute between Canberra and his family home in Enmore, Sydney.

The other was the lack of depth in the Capitals ranks, particularly the forwards.

Audio books solved the first problem easy enough, but Maher commends the effort of his players for taking care of his second concern.

Maher is blunt in his assessments - it's what makes him such a sharp coach.

He demands the best from his players, nit-picking at any fault.

Players know that silence from their coach is often as good as a complement.

And so when Maher took control of the Capitals this season his message to club management was clear - get a big recruit or forget about back-to-back titles.

Maher said that the Capitals were "ridiculously small" after losing Shelley Sandie and Jacinta Hamilton in the off-season. But no recruit was forthcoming.

Maher is happy to admit that he was wrong, with the Capitals about to play in their fourth successive grand final.

"I thought we were too small to finish first," Maher said.

"[Lauren] Jackson comes out and we've got to be the smallest team that's ever played in the WNBL. I never thought it would be impossible for us to win it, but I thought it would be difficult for us to finish on top at the end of the season. So the team rallied particularly well."

What has made the season even more gratifying for Maher is the adversity that his club has had to endure. Star Jackson missed the first four games of the season and has been unable to train because of her painful shins. Eleanor Sharp missed two months with glandular fever, while back-up centre Nerrida Cooper suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Maher said that he has had his strongest team together for maybe four games this season.

"I've never seen a team handle so much adversity," the former Australian Opals coach said.

"All our players have had good seasons - we haven't carried anybody - there hasn't been a non-contributor.

"We've put ourselves in holes several times and crawled out - when we should have lost games, we found a way to win.

"That becomes a habit and a good habit. I think that what the team's gone through, they've positioned themselves [to] win a grand final."

Maher should be a pretty good judge. He is the most successful coach in WNBL history - winning six championships - and has never lost a grand final.

It's not Maher's style to waste his time worrying about whether that first grand final loss might come tomorrow.

Nor has he distracted himself with what he might do after the grand final. Maher has no firm coaching offers, but he admitted that he will have no qualms about handing back the Capitals' reins to Graf next season.

"I've got a lot out of coaching this team this year and I'll look back upon it that way," he said.

The Capitals will want Maher to walk away in his customary manner... as a winner.