TWO knee reconstructions in 2011 hardly fazed Brent Staker compared to his latest year of woe.

The luckless Lion is in his 13th pre-season, feeling in the best shape of his rollercoaster career, but he admits to having grave fears midway through 2014.

Returning from his dual reconstructions, Staker showed he still had plenty of life left in his legs last year, kicking a match-sealer against Essendon and playing 15 straight games for Brisbane.

But a calf tendon injury in the first intra-club practice match this year, compounded by a foot stress fracture as he was about to make his comeback in June, had the 30-year-old struggling to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

"That was a blow I didn't see coming," he told AAP. "I took it pretty hard, having to be on crutches again in a moonboot."

Staker admitted only patience and hard work - taking to boxing as well as yoga - managed to get him through another demoralising rehab.

"To be honest, the knee reconstructions were pretty easy to get through," he said.

"My mind was more at ease and I got through them a lot better.

"But last year with the calf and then the stress fracture, it was a really hard year.

"It's safe to say it's been a tough career.

"My first eight years were terrific and then I've had a few obstacles."

Always an agile utility, Staker, who played in West Coast's 2005 grand final defeat, has bulked up 4kg through his ordeals.

He's tipping the scales at 102kg to be a contender for key positions at both ends of the ground for a Brisbane outfit now without club champions Jonathan Brown and Joel Patfull.

Despite his own misfortune this year, Staker was delighted to see the career renaissance of another 2010 mature-age Lions recruit - Matt Maguire.

The veteran pair, now the oldest at the club, are the only success stories from Michael Voss's ill-conceived recruitment haul that also included Brendan Fevola, Xavier Clarke and Amon Buchanan.

"Him and I, coming across from that trade, we're the two last standing," Staker said. "We've been through some hurdles but we're still giving it 110 per cent every week and looking forward to the year ahead."