# 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), five-time Merrett–Murray Medallist and dual Brisbane Lions leading goalkicker. He served as Brisbane Lions captain from 2018 to 2022.

## Early life

Zorko was born and raised on the Gold Coast, the second youngest of four children. 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. 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. 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 at the age of four.
Dayne attended Benowa State High School throughout his teenage years. He went on to play more than 250 junior and senior games for Surfers Paradise, which included an under-16 premiership where he played alongside future AFL players Ricky Petterd, Brent Renouf and Jesse White. 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, 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, 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. 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. 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. After being overlooked several times Zorko believed AFL clubs thought he was too short and slow to play in the AFL.

## AFL career

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". 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. He went on to also win the award in 2016 and 2017, as well as lead the Lions' goalkicking during those seasons, and was also selected in the 2017 All-Australian team as a half-forward.
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. His first match as captain was in round 10 against Sydney at the Gabba.
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."
Zorko stood down as captain of the Brisbane Lions ahead of the 2023 season. 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.
Zorko was part of the Brisbane Lions 2024 premiership winning team. 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

Updated to the end of the 2024 season.
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Votes |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | Votes |
| 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 | 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 | Career | 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
* ↑ 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

Team
* AFL premiership player (Brisbane Lions): 2024
* NAB Cup: (Brisbane Lions) 2013
Individual
* Brisbane Lions captain: 2018–2022
* 2× All-Australian team: 2017, 2024
* 5× Merrett–Murray Medal: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021
* 2× Brisbane Lions leading goalkicker: 2016, 2017
* Australian representative honours in international rules football: 2017
* 2× Marcus Ashcroft Medal: 2024 (both games)