Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich says he's already been left pleasantly surprised by Kate Lutkins as the veteran aims to regain her status as one of the AFLW's best defenders.
Lutkins missed the Lions' premiership-winning season last year to give birth to her first child.
At 36, she's back on board for Brisbane's premiership defence and facing a challenge to keep up with her younger teammates.
The Lions kicked off their pre-season campaign on Monday, and Lutkins was able to hold her own in the time trials.
Lutkins, a three-time All-Australian, was best on ground in Brisbane's 2021 grand final win over Adelaide, and looms as an important player as the Lions attempt to go back-to-back this year.
"She's pleasantly surprised me with where she's at with her running," Starcevich said on Monday.
"That was a really nice start by her today.
"Now it's getting the footy in the hand and recapturing what she was like in our first premiership year, which was best afield in the grand final and a dominant player in the competition
"It's a nice one to have back."
Lutkins could have easily retired last year, given her age and all she's achieved.
But the 2018 best and fairest winner is keen to keep driving Brisbane along.
"Kate's a competitor. She's a proud sportswoman and wants to contribute," Starcevich said.
"Good on her, she's back out there throwing her hand up for selection in our first team.
"One thing I know about (Lutkins) is she'll train her backside off and will want to be there when the whips are cracking."
Brisbane will again start among the favourites to win this season's flag.
Starcevich believes his side still has plenty of growth potential.
"We've still got a big chunk of the group that are under 25 years of age, still in their growth phase as players and athletes," he said.
"There's huge scope for improvement in our group, in a lot of areas.
"We briefly went through some key indicators from last year and things we hold highly in terms of our game style, and there's areas where we are middle of the pack statistically.
"Our pressure and our work is our one wood, but there's a lot of areas we need to keep working on."
