When Brisbane lines up against the Western Bulldogs for its final home and away round of 2022, Craig Starcevich will become the first AFLW head coach to reach 50 games, and is one of just two inaugural coaches still at the helm. 

On the way to 50, Starcevich has led his Lions to 32 wins, four finals series — the equal-most in competition history — and a premiership in 2021. In that time, 60 different players have run out in the maroon, gold and blue. 

Brisbane Lions Women's CEO Breeanna Brock cannot speak highly enough of Starcevich and his impact not only on the Lions, but on footy as a whole.

Having worked together at AFL Queensland before AFLW was even on the horizon, Brock and Starcevich have been drivers of women's footy talent in Queensland, and this has bled into the Lions' success. 

"He's always had great faith in the level of talent that's been in Queensland, and continues to be in Queensland, and that's a big passion for him," Brock told womens.afl. 

"But he is significant in terms of the brand of football that gets played, the way he coaches, the number of kids he's coached over the years who have on to great success, whether that be at state level or now AFLW level. It's a huge legacy going forward. 

"I think he's made a huge mark on the game." 

But it hasn't been an easy run. Over 2018 and 2019 the club lost 20 players and they went into "crisis mode big time" according to Starcevich. 

"Our list went from 30 to 17 in two weeks and we're thinking 'holy moly what's going on here? Half of them have walked out.' Which is hard at the time because you think you've created something that people don't want to be a part of," Starcevich said of the 2019 off-season. 

It was this challenge that Starcevich actually pinpoints as his highlight across his six years at the helm.

They rebuilt by going back to local competitions to find the likes of Dakota Davidson, Maria Moloney and Greta Bodey, brought Orla O'Dwyer over from Ireland and in the following year recruited Taylor Smith from Gold Coast and signed Courtney Hodder as a rookie. 

What he finds more difficult, however, is treading the line of what he can ask of players who are still only paid as part time athletes and must balance jobs outside of their time at the club. 

"They're hell bent on becoming full timers. And they are training their backsides off and putting in a whole lot of extra hours outside of their normal training time to recover well and get appropriate medical care, whatever it is, they're just trying to do everything they can, and at the same time balance their work commitments and their study commitments," Starcevich said. 

"It's challenging that you always sort of in the back of your mind go 'okay, how demanding can I be of this particular individual given her load and what she's going through', so that's the challenge from my point of view." 

It is this awareness of his players as complete people, rather than just as athletes that makes Starcevich a great coach. 

"The charisma that he has with the girls, you know, I remember watching him the first time he coached in under 18s footy and thinking 'oh man, I wish I had been coached by Craig'," Brock said. 

"He's a very upbeat, quirky, funny, animated kind of person. Some people give energy, and some people suck energy, Craig gives energy." 

Winger Sophie Conway agrees with this sentiment. 

"I bloody love Starce," Conway said. "The way he goes about his coaching is just second to none." 

"He just provides belief in yourself. I'm a player who probably doubts herself a little bit, but he can always find a way to make sure you know you're doing a good job and contributing very well to the team... I feel like we've got a pretty good bond." 

This attitude extends not only to the playing group, but to his assistant coaches, especially as that group around him has evolved over time. 

"In the early days for me the important bit was to have ex male players in and around the environment to pass on the habits of professionalism, so that was a high priority," Starcevich explained. 

"Until we got to the point where Lauren [Arnell] retired and Emma [Zielke] retired, and now they're the next ones. They've had five years in a semi-pro environment, they understand what we need to do with vision and stats and coaching and pastoral care for their line groups... the next step for those two is to really fast track them and give them some exposure to the men's program as well to hear the conversations they're having." 

And what's the best part of being an AFLW head coach?  

"How inquisitive the players are constantly. There's more margin for improvement. There's more margin for wanting to learn," Starcevich said. 

"Daniel Webster has been added to our coaching group this year and he was amazed in preseason that the girls will leave training, but they'll always say thank you before they leave. We don't tell them to be thankful, just as they are on the way out the door they say thanks."  

"It's a different energy."