Tolo has signed a one-year contract extension with the Canberra Capitals - and straight after the announcement the 29-year-old made a mad dash to the AIS for a boxing session with star teammate Kelsey Griffin.

Tolo is desperate to get a full pre-season under her belt ahead of Canberra's title defence after her return to the WNBL last season was delayed by a knee reconstruction and another minor surgery.

The prospect of a fully-fit Tolo for an entire season is enough to send shivers down the spine of Canberra's rivals as the star centre sets her sights on a bumper season heading into the 2020 Olympics.

"In Australia we always take care of our players so well and that’s a big plus," Tolo said.

"Especially coming back from injury, [it is good] to know I have the support staff around me to do all the right things and help me train as best as possible leading into the Olympics.

"I can’t believe it’s next year, and it’s always a good segway to be able to play at home and have the connection with the Australian players heading into an Olympics.

"To be honest I knew straight away I was coming to the Caps. Whilst my agent put the look out in Europe and elsewhere, I made it pretty clear I wanted to be here next season."

Tolo's re-signing shapes as a major coup for the Capitals as the WNBL free agency window opens, with the Opal joining the league's most valuable player in Griffin on the roster for 2019-20.

Keely Froling and Kristy Wallace join re-signed coach Paul Goriss at the club, with Tolo desperate to keep more of her championship-winning teammates who she says took pay cuts to be with the club in their run to the title.

For Goriss, who is so close with Tolo that he broke down in a press conference following her inspirational return last season, her extension brought "no tears of joy, no tears of sadness, just happiness".

"She is a great person to coach, a great person to have around the club and around Canberra. There’s a lot of people that speak highly of Tolo, not just as a basketball player but as a person," Goriss said.

"As much as she is a Queensland girl, she’s a Canberran. This is the only [WNBL] club she has played for. It’s really tough to recruit Australian bigs because there is not too many around, being able to have Kelsey and Tolo pair up together and be our starting four and five spot is huge before free agency starts.

"It also just cements some of our starting group so we can hopefully go close to what we already had in a championship year. Tolo already being 12 months fully-fit [when the season starts], coming into a WNBL season not having to worry about rehab, that helps us right from the get-go.

"She’s over all of those niggling injuries now, it’s just about getting stronger and making sure she does the work in the off-season."

Make no mistake about it, she is already putting in the work.