Expressing his gratitude, Stoinis said he was honoured to take over from Glenn Maxwell and looked forward to leading the team in the upcoming BBL season. He said, “ I had a little bit of a taste of captaining the side in Maxi’s absence last year and loved the opportunity so to be given the role full-time is a great honour.” He further added, “ The Stars have been such a constant in my life every summer for the last 10 years and I truly believe that the group we have assembled both on and off the field can bring some long overdue success to the club.” 

Maxwell assumed the Melbourne Stars captaincy in BBL 2018, guiding the team to the finals in his first two seasons. They narrowly missed out on the title, losing to the Melbourne Renegades in 2018 and falling short by 19 runs against the Sydney Sixers in 2019.

Since then, the Stars have struggled to reach the BBL finals, enduring a four-year playoff drought. Despite showing signs of progress last season, the team lost their final three matches under Maxwell’s leadership, ultimately missing out on the playoffs once again.