The preseason match has the usual faces.

Powerhouse Nathan Jawai on that night is of some concern to the bench after copping an accidental poke to the eye on the floor.

Coach Mike Kelly keeps calm about it all, his demeanour standing out for as much as it's not the typically cliche rah-rah address.

That catches the attention of an unfamiliar face to Cairns, but not to an astute basketball fan sitting in that Launceston crowd.

Sarah Veale is positioned behind the side's bench, carefully listening to every word Kelly and the Taipans assistants say.

"It all just cemented what made me feel comfortable over buy-in with players," Veale says. "But I've coached a lot of juniors and he's coaching professional players that are paid gosh knows how much."

That 60 minutes courtside was invaluable for the new Launceston Tornadoes coach.

But it was a warm invitation to the locker rooms beforehand and preparation leading into the game where she learned more than any cold winter inside Elphin Sports Centre.

"For me just being able to talk to the guys that is their profession obviously being full-time about how they do it, how they train, what they focus on and how they scout, I just got some really good ideas," Veale says.

"So you do learn a lot, but not as much as when you're coaching. That's when you're in that pressure cooker. You tend to learn from your own mistakes that way."

That's an approach that has served Veale well. It has remained with the inaugural Tornadoes-of-the-Year player since day dot.

Veale turned out for the 1994 side that emerged almost out of nowhere.

"I remember it was an odd conversation that [eventual teammate] Shelley Clay had with Bruce Stevenson - that's how it all started," Veale recalls inside the Torns office.

"Then all of a sudden, they are ringing people asking if they wanted to play a game of basketball. Malcolm Gardner was the coach and he tried to put it all together. That was such a learning experience for us."

Some years earlier, Launceston's Kmart Condors had a crack on the national stage.

It was a dismal failure, barely lasting a handful of years and losing most games - and all of them in their debut season.

Players had to raise the funds and only close friends attended Elphin home games.

Those experiences were banked away for the succession to the Tornadoes, but even that arrival wasn't too flash either.

They came close to split their games at a 11-15 record, but the reality was far worse.

"We didn't do very well at first, but we ended up getting Debbie Black in that really did help us," Veale says.

"That season we started in '94 and I think finished twelfth or thirteenth, but the games we lost we just got smashed."

It took another season, another coach and a refreshed outlook to turn things around.

It's history now the Tornadoes won the 1995 ABA national finals.

According to Veale, the success was about overcoming adversity and getting on a roll.

"So come '95, we had Michael [House] in charge who was very, very clear on what he wanted to achieve and how he was going to achieve it, and that was about getting us fit - and look where we ended up," she says.

The Tornadoes made the finals after they sneaked inside the top eight teams that was combined from two conferences, only following a rival's unexpected late defeat.

ELSEWHERE IN SPORT

Veale calls the circumstances behind the title tilt "very bizarre" when the Torns were winding down their fair campaign.

When Launceston star Karen Wakita scored 40 points first up against the east conference winner and the side got home by a whopping 40, everything changed.

"We just seem to have that momentum and because of preparation at the start of the season, we were fit," Veale says.

"It was like 'wow, we can actually do this', and that's when that self-belief hit us.

"That's what I remember that against the odds, we found ourselves in that position, but we had become a really good team by then when it took us that long to learn our roles and play together."

Veale can draw parallels to the current crop of Tornadoes from 25 years ago.

The evolution of a roster of talented locals that can similarly catapult the club back to glory that just peaked in a 2018 grand final.

That's the reason behind when the club gave the renowned junior coach the final nod, Veale readily accepted the job.

"My focus is to build that core group," she says. "I think we have already developed a pretty good, trusting relationship and we need to because it's going to be tough.

"There's no misconceptions that it's going to be easy. The better our culture is within our group, the easier you can get through those tough times if they happen.

"Whether that equates to wins or not, I don't know, but we definitely have to start from scratch. Break it all back and get the culture right at the club."

It's not something a presumptuous coach is throwing around as stern words.

Veale has stood by and watched the Torns every step of the way for many seasons.

"I feel I am fairly well connected to the Torns. Obviously, right from the get go, being a part of that inaugural team," she adds.

"There wouldn't be many games that I haven't either been here or watched on Facebook live or the livestream.

"I'm usually around, talking to the girls after the games or the next week at training."

That stretches back to the days when she was in charge of state junior sides.

Veale almost breaks into a giggle at the thought of guiding a 14-year-old Bec Abel at the Country Cup. That's the connection she wants to build at the club beyond next year.

With a firm but fair hand, the ethos will be a "team first" mentality and not individuals.

Or as Veale suggests, without a hint of hesitation, it can all be summed up in six words: play hard, play smart, play together.

"Once you embrace and believe all that, it's where it becomes you," she says.

"I remember it gets to the stage where you live, you eat it, you breath it - it's that thing that is at the front of mind all the time.

"Obviously we know there is a life outside of basketball, but it'll drive their passion.

"They'll understand the reason they're here is for the club and not for themselves."

But inside the mother-of-two's tough conversations, there is a dose of empathy.

An element of care that is certainly not about elevating her coaching credentials.

"Basketball is more than xs and os - you're not coaching xs and os, you're coaching real people. I think that's critical," Veale says.

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