BRISBANE coach Craig Starcevich has revealed the guilt he felt when some of his star Lions turned down "mind-blowing" offers to join rival clubs.
While the Lions were decimated during earlier rounds of AFLW expansion, this time they lost just two players to trade – with Indy Tahau and Maria Moloney both going to Port Adelaide.
Reigning league best and fairest Emily Bates, along with fellow Therabody All-Australians Orla O'Dwyer and Nat Grider were heavily courted by rivals but turned their backs on the big-money offers.
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Starcevich said he was pleasantly, but not overly, surprised to keep 28 players from last season's list intact.
"They've got this great camaraderie amongst them," he said. "They know they're in a successful team at the moment.
"They're happy with the fact we're pretty stable as a coaching group as well, we've got an amazing facility we're about to move into.
"There's a lot of things there they're thinking 'we could go for a little bit more, but what we've got here is pretty good'.
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"Mind you, what was being offered was mind-blowing.
"The fact they chose those other things without the dollar sign attached to it shows what type of people they are and how they value the feel around our team."
After winning the flag in 2021, Brisbane again gave it a shake last season, falling to Melbourne in a tight preliminary final.
Starcevich said it was a relief to keep the group together, but admitted it came at an emotional cost.
"There were elements of relief from my perspective once it was over and then this wave of guilt washed over me as well," he said.
"Have we, in keeping the group together, have we denied these people the opportunity of earning way more than what we've been able to retain them for?
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"We think in footy economics terms if you hang around us for long enough you'll be rewarded in the long term because you'll be in a strong team, you'll gradually creep up the pay-scale as some of our older players retire, so that's what we presented to them.
"It's made me feel a bit better about the whole thing I've got to say.
"This is tricky. You really want to see these girls who have given everything to their sport, earn what's been thrown at them, but you also want them to stay here and have more success with us.
"It's a very very tricky one to manage emotionally."
Starcevich also confirmed star defender Kate Lutkins was a "pretty good" chance of returning this season after rupturing her ACL in the opening minutes of last season.
"It's at the hopeful end more than the definite end," he said.
"But gees, Kate coming back into the team at the back end of the year, if it were to happen, is a huge plus for us."
