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Dayne Zorko

Dayne Zorko (born 9 February 1989) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Zorko won a premiership with the Brisbane Lions in 2024, and is a dual All-Australian (becoming the oldest player to receive the honour with his 2024 selection[2]), five-time Merrett–Murray Medallist and dual Brisbane Lions leading goalkicker. He served as Brisbane Lions captain from 2018 to 2022.

Dayne Zorko
Zorko playing for the Brisbane Lions in 2018
Personal information
Full name Dayne Zorko
Nickname(s) The Magician[1]
Date of birth (1989-02-09) 9 February 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth Gold Coast, Queensland
Original team(s) Broadbeach (NEAFL)
Draft 2011 QLD zone selection
Debut Round 7, 2012, Brisbane Lions vs. Collingwood, at the Gabba
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 77 kg (170 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder / forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2012– Brisbane Lions 277 (233)
International team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2017 Australia 2 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2024 season.
2 State and international statistics correct as of 2017.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life

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Zorko was born and raised on the Gold Coast, the second youngest of four children.[3] His Slovenian father, a refugee from Yugoslavia with his parents at about six years of age to Melbourne, had developed a passion for the sport before settling on the Gold Coast and having children.[4] His father began coaching the Surfers Paradise Demons and when his five year older brother Beau began playing in the under 8s, Dayne was just 3 years of age.[5][6] Dayne became a club mascot and began training after complaining that he didn't want to be left at home. He participated in Auskick at Surfers Paradise[7] at the age of four.

Dayne attended Benowa State High School throughout his teenage years.[8][9] He went on to play more than 250 junior and senior games for Surfers Paradise,[10] which included an under-16 premiership where he played alongside future AFL players Ricky Petterd, Brent Renouf and Jesse White.[11] In 2006 and 2007, he gained the desire to play at elite level and in 2007 switched to Broadbeach for his final year of junior football in pursuit of top level QAFL exposure to increase his AFL draft chances. Zorko captained Queensland during the 2007 AFL Under 18 Championships and was named Queensland's Most Valuable Player during the national carnival,[12] but was overlooked in the 2007 AFL draft. He remained at Broadbeach for the 2008 season and picked up his first senior best-and-fairest award but was again overlooked in the 2008 AFL draft.

In March 2009 the newly formed GC17 consortium invited a then 20-year-old Zorko to train with their under-18 TAC Cup team,[13] which Zorko hoped would lead to a VFL contract with the club for the following season but Gold Coast's interest waned after two weeks.[14] By the end of the 2010 season, Zorko had amassed three consecutive senior best-and-fairest awards at Broadbeach but still failed to capture the interest of any AFL clubs. He found himself at a crossroad when being offered contracts to play in higher standard state leagues outside of Queensland but eventually decided to stay at Broadbeach for the 2011 NEAFL season. Broadbeach coach Matt Angus knew Zorko had the skills to make it in the AFL but described his professionalism as "nowhere near that" required of an AFL player.[15] At the conclusion of the 2011 season, after winning the NEAFL's Syd Guildford Trophy as the Football Record Player of the Year, along with a fourth consecutive club best-and-fairest with Broadbeach, he was put back on AFL recruiters' radars. Zorko later revealed his reason for staying in Queensland was the hope that the recently established Gold Coast Suns AFL team would draft him with their local access zone concessions.[16] After being overlooked several times Zorko believed AFL clubs thought he was too short and slow to play in the AFL.[4][17]

AFL career

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Zorko playing for the Brisbane Lions in 2017

Zorko was recruited by Gold Coast in the 2011 AFL draft as a Queensland zone selection, before being on-traded to the Brisbane Lions. Zorko made his AFL debut against Collingwood at the Gabba in round 7, 2012, and quickly made a name for himself as a small half-forward flank who could kick freakish goals, leading to the nickname "The Magician".[18] He quickly became a cult figure at the Lions despite the team's woes, with Michael Voss being sacked as coach before the end of the 2013 season and the Lions hovering around the lower reaches of the ladder for several seasons.

After a consistent first few seasons, Zorko was named as the joint winner of the Merrett–Murray Medal in 2015 as Brisbane's best-and-fairest, alongside Dayne Beams, Stefan Martin and Mitch Robinson.[19] He went on to also win the award in 2016 and 2017,[20] as well as lead the Lions' goalkicking during those seasons, and was also selected in the 2017 All-Australian team as a half-forward.[21]

Zorko replaced Beams as the Lions' captain during the 2018 season after Beams stepped down from the captaincy for personal reasons, with Harris Andrews taking over as vice-captain from Zorko.[22] His first match as captain was in round 10 against Sydney at the Gabba.[23]

After Brisbane lost to Melbourne in round 23 of the 2022 season, Zorko apologised for an inappropriate comment he made during the game to Melbourne player Harrison Petty, saying in a statement 'I understand I need to be a better leader, and have spoken with the Club who have reinforced this."[24]

Zorko stood down as captain of the Brisbane Lions ahead of the 2023 season.[25] He won the Marcus Ashcroft Medal, awarded to the best on ground in the QClash, for the first time during round 8 of the 2024 season. His performance included a career-high Fantasy score with 40 disposals and 35 kicks.[26]

Zorko was part of the Brisbane Lions 2024 premiership winning team.[27] Despite no longer being the captain of the club, coach Chris Fagan called Zorko up to the premiership dais to raise the premiership cup with the incumbent co-captains, Harris Andrews and Lachie Neale.

Statistics

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Updated to the end of the 2024 season.[28]

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
  #  
 Played in that season's 
premiership team
  †  
 Led the league for 
the season
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2012 Brisbane Lions 15 16 16 14 168 146 314 74 103 1.0 0.9 10.5 9.1 19.6 4.6 6.4 6
2013 Brisbane Lions 15 22 26 27 193 139 332 57 117 1.2 1.2 8.8 6.3 15.1 2.6 5.3 3
2014 Brisbane Lions 15 21 18 16 222 244 466 59 115 0.9 0.8 10.6 11.6 22.2 2.8 5.5 8
2015 Brisbane Lions 15 22 18 11 300 205 505 98 85 0.8 0.5 13.6 9.3 22.3 4.5 3.9 5
2016 Brisbane Lions 15 20 23 16 300 171 471 83 128 1.2 0.8 15.0 8.6 23.6 4.2 6.4 5
2017 Brisbane Lions 15 21 34 27 341 185 526 79 147 1.6 1.3 16.2 8.8 25.1 3.8 7.0 14
2018 Brisbane Lions 15 22 26 18 302 155 457 54 159 1.2 0.8 13.7 7.0 20.8 2.5 7.2 6
2019 Brisbane Lions 15 24 23 19 404 132 536 94 160 1.0 0.8 16.8 5.5 22.3 3.9 6.7 19
2020[a] Brisbane Lions 15 17 9 15 222 64 286 65 75 0.5 0.9 13.1 3.8 16.8 3.8 4.4 0
2021 Brisbane Lions 15 23 17 18 386 169 555 122 140 0.7 0.8 16.8 7.4 24.1 5.3 6.1 14
2022 Brisbane Lions 15 22 6 9 323 114 437 127 64 0.3 0.4 14.7 5.2 19.9 5.8 2.9 5
2023 Brisbane Lions 15 20 8 8 272 106 378 118 71 0.4 0.4 13.6 5.3 18.9 5.9 3.6 0
2024# Brisbane Lions 15 27 9 6 566† 145 711 213† 86 0.3 0.2 21.0† 5.4 26.3 7.9 3.2 12
Career 277 233 204 3999 1975 5974 1243 1450 0.8 0.7 14.4 7.1 21.6 4.5 5.2 97

Notes

  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honours and achievements

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Team

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Dayne Zorko re-signs". AFL Queensland. 20 May 2021. Archived from the original on 7 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  2. ^ Blucher, Peter (30 August 2024). "Zorko makes All-Australian history". Brisbane Lions. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  3. ^ Back to the beginning for Zorko from AFL Queensland 20 March 2014
  4. ^ a b Zorko Marks 250 On Biggest Stage By Peter Blucher for Lions Media 28 September 2023
  5. ^ Wilson, Terry (1 April 2019). "Broadbeach Cats 2019 QAFL Season Preview". AFL Queensland. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  6. ^ Wilson, Terry (31 October 2018). ""I feel there are exciting times ahead": Zorko announced as Broadbeach coach". AFL Queensland. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  7. ^ AFL Record Round 4, 2022 pg 50
  8. ^ Merrett, Daniel (25 March 2013). "In the bottle – The great Zorko". AFL Players Association. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  9. ^ Blucher, Peter (17 August 2016). "Zorko: From Zero to 100". AFL Queensland. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  10. ^ Davis, Greg (17 February 2017). "Dayne Zorko says it is a special feeling to be able to play football at Broadbeach again". Courier Mail. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  11. ^ "Untold story of the rise of Brisbane Lions AFL star Dayne Zorko". Gold Coast Bulletin. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  12. ^ "'Party boy' whispers stunned Lions skipper". Queensland Times. 17 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Coast gives incentive to Queenslanders". AFL Queensland. 5 March 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  14. ^ "Gold Coast had a future club captain under their nost in 2010 and never called back". SEN. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  15. ^ Windley, Matt (15 March 2013). "Brisbane midfielder Dayne Zorko's path to the AFL stage has been different than most". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  16. ^ Hamilton, Andrew (24 March 2017). "Dayne Zorko a star for Brisbane Lions after being passed over by Gold Coast Suns". Courier Mail. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  17. ^ [https://www.afl.com.au/news/644238/too-slow-too-small-too-unfit-the-day-dayne-zorko-crushed-popular-opinion Too slow, too small, too unfit: The day Dayne Zorko crushed popular opinion Brisbane skipper Dayne Zorko reflects ahead of his 200th AFL game] By Michael Whiting 10 July 2021
  18. ^ Keane, Justin (22 July 2017). "Dayne Zorko raises hand for All-Australian selection". hashtagfooty.com.au. Hashtag Footy. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  19. ^ Whiting, Michael (12 September 2015). "Four Lions share top honour at best and fairest". afl.com.au. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  20. ^ Whiting, Michael (3 September 2016). "Zorko goes back to back in Lions' year of pain". afl.com.au. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  21. ^ Navaratnam, Dinny (30 August 2017). "Shock skipper, All Australian team revealed". afl.com.au. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  22. ^ Whiting, Michael (23 May 2018). "Beams steps aside as Lions skipper". afl.com.au. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  23. ^ Whiting, Michael (25 May 2018). "Learning to lead: Lion ready to step up". afl.com.au. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  24. ^ Whiting, Michael (20 August 2022). "'Need to be better': Zorko apologises for 'inappropriate comment'". afl.com.au. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  25. ^ "Veteran skipper steps down as Lion King". afl.com.au. 14 February 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  26. ^ "Zorko stars, Lions defy carnage for QClash win". ESPN. 6 May 2024.
  27. ^ "Lion Kings: Fagan's heroes thrash Swans in GF shock". AFL. 28 September 2024.
  28. ^ "Dayne Zorko". AFL Tables. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
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