Craig Starcevich | |||
---|---|---|---|
Personal information | |||
Date of birth | 16 May 1967 | ||
Original team(s) | East Perth (WAFL) | ||
Debut | Round 1, 1987, Collingwood vs. Sydney Swans, at Victoria Park | ||
Club information | |||
Current club | Brisbane Lions (women's coach) | ||
Playing career1 | |||
Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
1987–1993 | Collingwood | 124 (162) | |
1994–1995 | Brisbane Bears | 20 (16) | |
Total | 144 (178) | ||
Coaching career3 | |||
Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
2017– | Brisbane (W) | 78 (54–23–1) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1995. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 season. | |||
Career highlights | |||
| |||
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com |
Craig Starcevich (born 16 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer and current senior coach. Starcevich played for Collingwood and the Brisbane Bears in the Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) prior to 1990. He is the current senior coach of Brisbane in the AFL Women's (AFLW), having led the team since its inception. Starcevich is the only person in Australian rules football history to win both an AFL and an AFLW premiership, having won the latter as coach.
Starcevich was recruited from East Perth, for whom he played 37 games for after he won the 1986 F. D. Book Medal for being judged their best and fairest player. On the back of this, Starcevich was recruited to Collingwood in the VFL.
Starcevich made his VFL debut in 1987. He played the role of a key-position player, coming off the bench in Collingwood's 1990 premiership side to be a solid contributor during the grand final. He played 124 games and kicked 162 goals for Collingwood before moving to the Brisbane Bears at the end of 1993 as part of the trade that saw Nathan Buckley go to Collingwood. He played 20 games and kicked 16 goals for the Bears before retiring at the end of 1995.
Following his retirement from AFL football as a player, Starcevich became one of the most prominent fitness trainers in the AFL.
In 2006, he was recruited as part of the St Kilda Football Club's head of training services in an attempt to turn around the club's large injury list in the 2005 season. During the 2006 pre-season, Starcevich adopted a controversial policy whereby players were banned from wearing thongs, citing the fact that they could increase the risk of injuries to feet. He left the Saints before the 2007 season, citing "family reasons". [1]
In March 2007, Starcevich joined A-League team Queensland Roar as strength and conditioning coach. [2]
In June 2016, Starcevich was appointed head coach of the Brisbane Lions women's team. [3] Starcevich guided the Lions to the minor premiership in the inaugural season of AFL Women's in 2017. By finishing first, the Lions qualified for the 2017 AFL Women's Grand Final. The team lost to the Adelaide Crows in the decider. In the league's second season, the Lions once again lost the Grand Final by six points under Starcevich, in a game which ended 27–21 in favour of the Western Bulldogs.
Since arriving in Brisbane at the end of 1993, Starcevich has been involved in every one of the Brisbane Lions' four premierships (three AFL and two AFLW) and eight grand final appearances (four AFL & four AFLW).
Starcevich's son Jackson played for Collingwood in the VFL, and nephew Brandon currently plays for Brisbane in the AFL. [4]
Legend | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W | Wins | L | Losses | D | Draws | W% | Winning percentage | LP | Ladder position | LT | League teams |
Season | Team | Games | W | L | D | W % | LP | LT |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Brisbane | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 75.00% | 1 | 8 |
2018 | Brisbane | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 50.00% | 2 | 8 |
2019 | Brisbane | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 28.57% | 4c/9o [lower-alpha 1] | 5c/10o |
2020 | Brisbane | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 50.00% | 3c/7o [lower-alpha 1] | 7c/14o |
2021 # | Brisbane | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 81.82% | 2 | 14 |
2022 (S6) | Brisbane | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 75.00% | 3 | 14 |
2022 (S7) | Brisbane | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 84.62% | 1 | 18 |
2023 # | Brisbane | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 76.92% | 4 | 18 |
Career totals | 78 | 54 | 23 | 1 | 69.23% |
Notes
The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition.
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club is based at the W. T. Peterson Community Oval in Fitzroy North. The club nickname is the Roys, having previously been the Maroons, Gorillas (1938–1957) and Lions (1957–1996). Since 1975, the club's colours have been red, blue and gold.
Alastair Graeme Lynch is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is best known as a three-time premiership full-forward for the Brisbane Lions.
Nathan Charles Buckley is a former professional Australian rules football coach, player and commentator.
Mark Melville Williams is a former Australian rules football player and coach. As a player, Williams represented West Adelaide and Port Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as well as Collingwood and Brisbane Bears in the Australian Football League (AFL), from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Craig McRae is a former Australian rules footballer and the current senior coach of the Collingwood Football Club.
Adrian Fletcher is a former Australian rules footballer and current assistant coach. He is regarded as one of football's nomads, having played for five Australian Football League clubs in his 13-year career. Fletcher's play relied on being an excellent play reader which resulted in him being a prolific possession gatherer, especially by handball.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season in 1897. It changed its name to Australian Football League in 1990 after expanding its competition to other Australian states in the 1980s. The AFL publishes its Laws of Australian football, which are used, with variations, by other Australian football organisations.
Rivalries in the Australian Football League exist between many teams, most of which typically draw large crowds and interest regardless of both teams' positions on the ladder. The AFL encourages the building of such rivalries, as a method of increasing publicity for the league, to the point of designating one round each year as "Rivalry Round" when many of these match-ups are held on the one weekend. Whilst some rivalries, such as between teams from adjacent areas, are still strong, the designation of an entire round of fixtures as a Rivalry Round is often criticised due to some arbitrary match-ups, or ignoring stronger and more recent rivalries.
The Australian Football League stages the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in the country.
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national professional Australian rules football league for female players. The first season of the league in February and March 2017 had eight teams; the league expanded to 10 teams in the 2019 season, 14 teams in 2020 and 18 teams in 2022. The league is run by the Australian Football League (AFL) and is contested by each of the clubs from that competition. The reigning premiers are Brisbane.
The 2017 AFL Women's season was the inaugural season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season ran from 3 February to 25 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a grand final contested by the top two clubs. Eight Australian Football League (AFL) clubs featured in the inaugural season: Adelaide, Brisbane, Carlton, Collingwood, Fremantle, Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
The Brisbane Lions' 2017 season was the club's 21st season in the Australian Football League (AFL) and 1st in AFL Women's (AFLW).
The 2018 AFL Women's season was the second season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured eight clubs and ran from 2 February to 24 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a grand final contested by the top two clubs.
Gabrielle "Gabby" Collingwood is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the AFL Women's (AFLW).
The 2019 AFL Women's season was the third season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured ten clubs and ran from 2 February to 31 March, comprising a seven-round home-and-away season followed by a two-week finals series featuring the top two clubs from each conference. Australian Football League (AFL) clubs Geelong and North Melbourne featured for the first time in 2019.
The 2021 AFL Women's season was the fifth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the highest-level senior women's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 14 clubs and ran from 28 January to 17 April, comprising a nine-round home-and-away season followed by a three-week finals series featuring the top six clubs.
The 2021 AFL Women's Grand Final was an Australian rules football match held at the Adelaide Oval on 17 April to determine the premiers of the fifth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. The match was contested by the Adelaide Crows and Brisbane Lions. It was the second grand final between the two clubs after the 2017 Grand Final which was won by Adelaide. Both clubs were appearing in their third grand final, following Adelaide's premierships in 2017 and 2019, and Brisbane's losses in the 2017 and 2018 grand finals.
The 2023 AFL Women's Grand Final was an Australian rules football match held on the 3 December at Ikon Park to determine the premiers of the eighth season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. The match was between North Melbourne and Brisbane and was won by Brisbane; it was the club's second senior women's premiership. Brisbane's captain, Breanna Koenen, was awarded the best-on-ground medal.