Craig Starcevich could become greatest ever coach in the league’s history with a grand final win

Craig Starcevich already has claims of being the greatest AFLW coach of all time, but a win in Sunday’s grand final would push him into even rarer air. See what makes him so loved here.

Craig Starcevich sings the team song with his players. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Ask anyone at the Brisbane Lions what the secret to their sustained AFLW success is and one of the first answers is almost always “Craig Starcevich”.

The master mentor and motivator has claims to being the best coach in the competition’s history.

If he can steer his Lions to a second premiership on Sunday, those claims will only grow stronger.

Five times he has led his side to the final day of the AFLW season. Only once have the Lions not reached at least the preliminary final stage.

It’s a weighty record made even more impressive by what he and the club have had to overcome over the journey.

For seven seasons the Lions competed without an established home ground. They shared home games among eight venues scattered around Queensland.

Craig Starcevich is much loved at the Lions. Picture: Lachie Millard

Almost every off-season, like clockwork, rivals would come knocking for their best players.

No club has been pillaged as regularly as the Lions. In one 12 month span, Starcevich watched 16 players walk out the door.

Most recently it was a trio of All-Australians – Emily Bates, Greta Bodey and Jesse Wardlaw – who left.

That was said to be the final straw. There was no way the Lions could recover from losing three superstars and still feature at the pointy end of the season.

Yet somehow Starcevich and his band of underdogs found a way.

Though the Lions coach has regularly voiced his frustration over the repeated loss of top-line talent, he has never leant on that as an excuse to underperform.

Instead, he has used it as motivation. To unearth fresh talent and mould them into the competition’s next set of superstars.

“He has a really good eye for talent,” declared Brisbane’s Head of Women’s Football, Breeanna Brock.

“In the off-season he goes to Switzerland to be with his wife who works there and suddenly he’s in Ireland watching Gaelic Football. There he sees Jenn Dunne and says ‘yep, that’s the one we want’.

“That goes for all the players in our team, really. They’ve been recruited out of the local league or U18s. Having that ability to see talent has been a really important part of the process for us.”

Dunne is his latest success story.

Jennifer Dunne in action. Picture: Getty Images

A multiple All-Ireland Gaelic Football champion with Dublin, the Irishwoman had never played Aussie rules until Starcevich unleashed her on the competition this season.

Suddenly she is a key cog in the Brisbane back line that will play a crucial role in deciding Sunday’s grand final.

Next to her is Poppy Boltz. A former junior protege of Starcevich who only 18 months ago was playing football in Cairns, unsure if she was even good enough to be an AFLW player.

The retooled midfielder is now a reliable defender who boasts some of the best traits of both positions.

Then there are players like Dakota Davidson, who on Monday night earned her first All-Australian blazer.

The key forward was plucked from the QAFLW by Starcevich after one of the many poaching raids of years past.

This season the goal kicking burden was placed firmly on her shoulders with the departures of Wardlaw and Bodey. Unsurprisingly, she flourished.

It’s what Starcevich’s players do. He trusts in them and they return the favour.

“You could look at him and go ‘whoa, he’s a six-foot-five crazy Croatian guy’ … and he would hate me saying this, but he actually has a very gentle nature about him,” Brock said.

“He’s very caring of his players. He has great relationships with his players and they hang a lot of s**t on him. He’s not precious about any of that.

“He has a great nature for girls and women to feel comfortable with him. He’s not overbearing or aggressive, but he’s as competitive as all hell – and so are all these girls.

“The first time I saw him coach was when he was State U18s coach and I remember thinking at the time, ‘I wish I was coached by a guy like this’.”

This week Starcevich was named joint winner of the AFLCA AFLW Senior Coach of the Year award.

It was the third time in four seasons he was recognised by his peers as the best coach in the competition.

Starcevich at the W Awards. Picture: Getty Images

No other coach has won the award more than once.

When his players broke the news, Starcevich quickly directed the kudos to his fellow coaching staff.

“He’s one of those guys who cannot take a compliment no matter what you say,” said Brisbane skipper Breanna Koenen.

“He’s always building other people up and letting them know what they’re doing right and supporting them. He’s such a humble guy and a big reason the club has been so successful, obviously.

“He’s an inspirational leader for us all. He supports and encourages me to be whatever leader I want to be. He doesn’t put pressure on me to be a certain way which I think is what I appreciate the most about him.”

But what exactly is it that makes Starcevich such a successful coach?

Brock says it’s the combination of all his past lives come together to form the perfect melting pot of a brilliant, committed and caring AFLW senior coach.

“Craig has this really awesome mix,” Brock said.

“He has a successful AFL background – won premierships at Collingwood as a player, came to Brisbane and was a strength and conditioning coach under Leigh Matthews. So his exposure to winning teams in footy, you go tick, tick.

Starcevich competing for the ball in his playing days.

“Then, he has a teaching background. Great. He knows how to disseminate information and teach people stuff.

“He also has an exercise science background. Great. So when the high performance guys are talking he’s clearly in all that stuff.

“His previous roles here with AFL Queensland, he did competition management and girls talent, so he’s coached half our team when they were 17-18 year olds.

“He’s done commentating and radio, so he’s got a great ability to tell stories and get people to come along with him on the journey.

“He has this amazing mix of everything you need for people to want to play for him and people to want to be around him.”

Would the Lions be as successful as they are today if not for Starcevich?

“Hypothetically? Probably not,” Brock declared.

“He’s the leader, right?

“There’s certainly a genuine feel and sense to that. I wouldn’t say they’re playing for him, but they’re playing with him. We’re all in it together. He’s the front man and they’re all backing him up.”

Originally published as Craig Starcevich could become greatest ever coach in the league’s history with a grand final win