Five best-and-fairests. Two All-Australians. Over 300 games. And potentially a third premiership.
Dayne Zorko is Hall of Fame-bound, but remarkably, it still feels as if he’s underrated by the footy public.
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Zorko’s career didn’t even start until he was 23 years old; initially pre-listed at Gold Coast before getting traded to Brisbane in 2011.
But just consider that for a moment.
Zorko has played 320 games, all after turning 23. You’d feel pretty confident in declaring there won’t be another to play that much footy after starting that late.
And Zorko isn’t showing many signs of slowing down at age 37.
But even as he got the ball rolling early in his career, winning Lions best-and-fairests in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, he didn’t get the recognition he deserved as his club languished at the bottom of the ladder.
Still, Brownlow medallist and Swans Hall of Famer Gerard Healy recalls Zorko’s early impact up north.
Healy remembers coining the nickname ‘The Great Zorko’, inspired by his magical ability with ball in hand and his use by foot.
“That was a long, long time ago, when he was coming from nowhere, and he just started emerging,” Healy recalled to Foxfooty.com.au.
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“And his kicking skills were phenomenal. His decision-making was phenomenal, and he did produce some magic on the ground, so he reminded me of a magician, like in one of those movies.
“That’s where it sort of all emanated from.”
In those days, he was a midfield menace. In his first All-Australian year, 2017, he averaged 25.1 disposals, 5.4 clearances and 5.0 inside-50s per game.
Fast-forward several years, and The Great Zorko’s real magic trick has been his durability and capacity to enhance his skill set in older age.
“He probably is still unheralded in many ways, because when he was winning initial best and fairests, the club wasn’t at the top, and now he is still playing at an incredibly high level,” Healy said.
“There are some guys whose careers post-30 years of age, they magically are incredibly better than their pre-30s.
“I mean, he didn’t even have a career pre-25 in reality, so he is arguably the most underrated in many ways. But is he underrated? That’s the question, because I see him as a great player.”
Zorko celebrates with Kai Lohmann in last Saturday’s preliminary final win. (Photo by James Wiltshire/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Even when Brisbane finally ascended to top-four mainstays, though, the names on everyone’s lips were Andrews, Hodge, McCluggage, Neale, Cameron and the like.
But as far as premierships go, Healy credits a large part of the Lions’ true “emergence” to Zorko’s magnet move early in 2024.
When Keidean Coleman was struck down by a ruptured ACL at the start of that season, Zorko, who was only really making the grade at the time, was shifted to half-back.
And as we now know, the move proved a masterstroke by Chris Fagan, with the Broadbeach product able to reinvent himself in the defensive half.
His creativity, dare and kicking precision as a rebounding back-flanker were integral as the Lions broke through for their elusive premiership after previous finals failures.
At the end of the season, he was recognised with his second All-Australian blazer — seven years after winning his first — to make history by becoming the oldest player selection in an AA team at age 35 years and 197 days.
Dayne Zorko won his second All-Australian jacket in 2024. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
“Well, when you look at the emergence of Brisbane, a lot of it has to do with, I think, him going back to that (half-back) position,” Healy said.
“And as much as we can highlight Harris Andrews and a few others, his positional move has set them alight for finals wins because of his capacity to be able to make the right decisions with ball in hand coming out of the backline.
“Their transition footy has always been heavily predicated on kicking, and his kicking is as good as anybody’s, and has been over the journey.
“But I think he also has passed so many tests along the way. He was not having his best grand final last year up until halftime, but he ended up one of the better Brisbane players. He just steeled himself mentally and reasserted himself.
“He’s been an incredible story, really. An incredible story.”
Zorko and Lachie Neale pose with the 2024 premiership cup. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Triple Lions premiership icon Alastair Lynch pinpointed that same juncture in time as Zorko’s career turning point.
“Let’s go back three years, and he was probably finished,” Lynch told Foxfooty.com.au.
“That may be overstating it, but he was getting to the stage where he was being squeezed out of the midfield going forward, just going OK.
“But then with the disappointing injury to Coleman, he gets shoved to the half-back flank, and all of a sudden, he’s gone from a very good player, but he’s gone to half-back, and you could build a really good case that he is in the top two or three most important players at the club still. It’s astonishing.”
Since turning 32 in 2021, Zorko has played at least 20 games in each of the following five seasons in a genuinely astounding exhibit of durability.
And despite having been in his 30s since 2019, the quality of his play has never faulted, nor has his importance to the side reduced in that time.
In fact, it’s been quite the opposite.
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“His assets across half-back make this team so much better. They are so much better when he is in the side, and can see that clearly when he’s not out there with his kicking ability,” Lynch said.
“You go back to when the game was essentially over against GWS in the second half (in 2024), and he started kicking darts through the middle of the ground, and they’ve won a final and gone on to their first premiership.
“So Zorko was a late starter, (but he has been) incredibly good to win the best and fairests that he has won. He was well on the way to go into the AFL Hall of Fame, and then went to the half-back flank and probably became even better at the ripe old age of 37.”
Those at Brisbane will hope Zorko can keep defying Father Time and continue doing what he does best for a little longer.
Zorko and Hugh McCluggage train at Lions headquarters ahead of this weekend’s grand final against Fremantle. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Injury has limited the soon-to-be-38-year-old to 17 matches this year, but his 2027 contract has already been sewn up — so there’s still plenty of confidence he can keep rolling.
“I haven’t seen one sign, not one, that suggests he should even be considering retirement,” Healy defiantly said.
“Unless he’s bored of winning premierships. There’s not one physical sign that I’ve seen that suggests he should even consider it.
“That (the fall-off) can come on in a hurry, but there’s nothing there at the moment, and mentally he’s fine, so as long as he’s got a hunger for the game, the body is still looking to me as if it’s prepared to keep giving.”
And best believe he’ll give plenty on Saturday against Fremantle as he and his Lions bid for a third-straight flag.