It was 2.15am on 27 October 1993. The last day of trading ahead of the draft. It had been a marathon but finally a deal was done. Craig Starcevich was heading to Brisbane.

In was one of the biggest and most unusual trades in AFL history, Starcevich, Troy Lehmann and pick #12 in the Draft, which ultimately became Chris Scott, moved north in exchange for Nathan Buckley.

Going on 30 years later a now 55-year-old Starcevich couldn’t be happier.

He’s a two-time AFLW Coach of the Year with the Lions and a key figure in the establishment and growth of the women’s competition, and although currently enjoying an off-season holiday overseas is well-entrenched at the magnificent new Brighton Homes Arena, official home ground of the AFLW Lions.

The deal that brought Starcevich to Brisbane was all about Buckley, the prodigiously talented young man born in Adelaide and raised mainly in Darwin who was zoned to the Brisbane Bears, won the Magarey Medal and a premiership playing with Port Adelaide in the SANFL in 1992 and desperately wanted to play for Collingwood.

The only way Buckley could get to Collingwood was to go via Brisbane. So in 1993 he played a full 20-game season under Robert Walls, winning the AFL Rising Star Award and finishing second to Michael McLean in the club championship.

Under a pre-arranged deal, Brisbane would trade Buckley to Collingwood at the end of the season. The Pies could brand 10 players ‘untouchable’ but otherwise everyone was on the table.

Starcevich, originally from WAFL club East Perth and uncle of current Lions star Brandon, had played 123 games including seven finals in seven years at Victoria Park. Only Gavin Brown had played more.

A regular WA State of Origin representative, he’d finished outside the B&F top 10 only once, was close to best afield in the 1990 grand final until ko’d in a wild brawl just after halftime and was regarded as the most professional player at the club.

But it didn’t matter. To get the deal done Collingwood had to satisfy the young expansion club, which had moved from Carrara to the Gabba only 12 months earlier.

What happened behind the scenes will never be fully revealed despite much scuttlebutt over the years, but results say overall Brisbane got the better of the deal.

For all his personal accolades Buckley, who said at the time he went to Collingwood to win a premiership, didn’t get the ultimate prize and was twice beaten by Brisbane in the grand final, while Scott was a two-time premiership winner who would have won a third but for injury.

And although Starcevich played only 20 games for the club before an injury-forced retirement, he played a key role as the strength and conditioning coach of the Lions’ 2001-02-03 AFL premiership sides before a major pioneering role in the Lions AFLW program, highlighted when he coached the side to the 2021 flag.

In between brief working stints with the Queensland Roar, St Kilda AFL club and AFL Queensland, he’s been an invaluable addition to the Brisbane football family and was recognised last September with life membership.

Starcevich, Lehmann, who managed only 13 games for the club in 1994, and Buckley are three of 28 players who have played for Brisbane and Collingwood. It’s the biggest group of shared players across the competition, with Fitzroy’s 21 common players the only other club at 20-plus.

It’s always been that way after five ex-Pies played in the very first Brisbane Bears side in 1987 – ex-Pies captain Mark Williams, Geoff Raines, Mike Richardson, Phillip Walsh and Cameron O’Brien.

But although the first nine members of this special community played first at Collingwood, the traffic has been much more the other way recently, with nine of the last 12 players to switch between the clubs played first at Brisbane. Overall, after Dan McStay this year became the 13^th Brisbane player to move south, it’s 13-15.

Not only is Starcevich a key member of the off-field team but Ben Hudson is the Lions Reserves Coach and Anthony Corrie is the club’s Indigenous Player Welfare Manager.

In chronological order, the full membership list is Williams, Raines, Richardson, Walsh, O’Brien, Gary Shaw, Matthew Ryan, Colin Alexander, Heath Shepherd, Brad Hardie, Brad Rowe, Buckley, Starcevich, Lehmann, Shane O’Bree, Mal Michael, Jarrod Molloy, Blake Caracella, Cameron Wood, Anthony Corrie, Ben Hudson, Jackson Paine, Jack Crisp, Dayne Beams, Patrick Karnezis, James Aish, Jack Frost and McStay.