CARLTON has retained its two most-prized signatures on the first day of the AFLW sign and trade period, with captain Brianna Davey and star forward Darcy Vescio recommitting to the club.
Despite reports Davey had received a big offer from cross-town rivals Collingwood, she said she never seriously entertained the idea of moving.
"To be honest, I've always been at Carlton. My heart's always been at Carlton, I love the club and I love the girls," Davey said.
"Like any player there's going to be offers put on the table to managers and stuff like that, but for me, it was a pretty easy decision in the end and I'm stoked to sign on for another year."
Vescio said she had also been offered contracts elsewhere but was happy to stick with the Blues.
"It's pretty natural at the moment, the way the League's been set up – as long as it keeps expanding every year, there are going to offers thrown around left, right and centre," Vescio said.
"I wish we could sign longer deals, but at the minute it's just on a one-year contract, so at the end of every season everyone's getting offers.
"For me, I wasn't ever entertaining anywhere else, you just have to listen then come back to the club and see what they can do."
Carlton had a horror 2018. While the side won its first two matches, it failed to register a victory for the rest of the season, losing a match to the Western Bulldogs by a competition-record 73 points and mutually parting ways with coach Damien Keeping.
Davey also ruptured her ACL in round two, but said her recovery was going as planned and she should be back for the start of pre-season.
Carlton recruited two big-name players in former Brisbane marquee Tayla Harris and Collingwood best and fairest Nicola Stevens for 2018, and Davey said the club may be on the lookout for an experienced midfielder for next season.
"Our list is looking pretty good, we've got some depth in the list. Maybe a key midfielder would be great to bring through, someone with a bit more experience, because we've got a pretty raw, young list, but we'll just see what happens."
Expansion club North Melbourne has made the headlines for its impressive swag of recruits, including Emma Kearney, Kaitlyn Ashmore, Moana Hope and Emma King, with Carlton losing key defender Danielle Hardiman and utility Kate Gillespie-Jones.
"They've definitely recruited some big names and girls who can play some serious footy," Davey said.
"It's starting to look like an impressive list by them but at the end of the day, it's also about how the team gels, so it'll be interesting to see how they go when they pull on their guernsey."
The AFLW sign and trade period runs from May 23 to June 4, with the eight foundation clubs able to re-sign up to 23 of their 2018-listed players.
Expansion clubs Geelong and North Melbourne are not able to sign 2018 AFLW players but can add open-aged players (over 18 and didn't play AFLW this year) at any time.
There is a free agency period for delisted players from June 4 to June 7, with preliminary lists to be lodged on June 8.
The draft is touted to be held in October, as has been the case the last two years.
