Luke Power famously faced that question at the end of the 2005 season, when the out-of-contract All-Australian midfielder attracted attention from some of the bigger Melbourne clubs.
History will show that Power turned down the overtures, became a Brisbane Lions co-captain and, with a slice of luck, a leading light in the next generation of success at the club.
”One of the reasons I stayed was because I wanted to give back to the younger players what the senior players gave to me when I was coming through,” Power told lions.com.au.
”With guys like Jonathan Brown, Simon Black and Tim Notting, I wanted to be able to help provide the kind of experience and leadership that young players need to develop.
”Hopefully what we’re getting into now is part of the next good Lions era.”
The flipside to the stay-or-go equation is encapsulated by Power’s younger brother Sam, who left the Western Bulldogs at the end of last season to join North Melbourne.
After 84 games in seven seasons at the Dogs, Sam looks like blossoming in the blue-and-white after averaging 17 possessions per game over the opening nine rounds.
Last week he played in a thrilling three-point win over his old club and this Saturday night the two siblings are poised to do battle at the Gabba.
”Sam had some great years with the Bulldogs and made a lot of great friends there,” Power said.
”But now he’s really enjoying being at his new club and the change of environment that’s come with that.
”On the weekend it was terrific for him to have beaten his former team in such a close game.
”I had a bit of a chat to him afterwards – I think he was at a function for Brent Harvey’s 250th game – and he sounded really happy.
”I’m hoping he won’t be quite so happy this week!”
The Lions themselves weren’t all that outwardly happy after round nine, despite having beaten St Kilda by 46 points.
While coach Leigh Matthews sought answers to a fade-out that saw the Saints peg back four goals in the last quarter, the playing group was also vocal in its disappointment at the lackluster finish.
Power said the frustration was evidence of the growing maturity within the Lions’ ranks.
”We’ll probably learn a lot more out of the mistakes we made in the last 10 minutes of the match than we will from what we did well for the first 110 minutes,” Power said.
”It’s one of those funny things – if you go on to have the big win, everyone’s happy and maybe you don’t have such a productive review meeting out of the game.
”No-one wants to finish a game like that but at least it means we’ve got some really good learning tools".
”I think the thing we realise is that when we play well, we can match it with anyone. But when you don’t play up to those standards, any team in the competition is capable of troubling you.”
