ZORKO DRIVEN BY FLAG No retirement thoughts
The hunger to win an AFL flag will ensure Brisbane Lions veteran Dayne Zorko plays for as long as his body allows or until he gets the dreaded “tap on the shoulder”.
The former Lions skipper, who turns 35 next week, signed a new one-year deal in November, a little more than a month after the devastation of Brisbane’s four-point grand final loss to Collingwood.
“I’m still chasing that premiership,” Zorko said on Wednesday ahead of the 13th season of his AFL career.
“To come so close, it’s disappointing but … we’ve got opportunity to go around again and try to rewrite the script.”
When asked if he would retire at the end of the 2024 season, Zorko was adamant in his response as he jokingly compared his longevity with 39year-old NBA legend LeBron James.
“I will not be putting a limit as to how long I play on. I feel great, the body’s feeling great, so I will just take it as it comes,” he said.
“How old’s LeBron, 40-odd? Just keep going … until I completely broke down or (Lions football manager) Danny (Daly) taps me on the shoulder, but the way I’m feeling and pulling up after training at the moment, I feel fantastic, so that’s great.”
Zorko said he
The AFL is preparing to greenlight the brave new world of mid-season trading – but with a 12-month lead-in for 2025 so clubs can plan for greater player movement.
Clubs have been asked to lodge submissions on the midseason trade period, next generation academies and competitive balance measures by Friday.
While a decision has not yet been made, it is understood the extremely likely scenario is the league approving a midseason trade period but only starting next season.
One key reason for that 12month delay is some clubs had “moved on pretty quickly” from the grand final loss, taking solace from the Lions getting so close to winning the match despite Collingwood being the better team on the day.
“It was obviously disappointing to get so close and fall short. However, we weren’t the better team on the day so you can live with that a little bit,” he said. “I guess the positives were we didn’t play our best football but we were right in it, so that gives us obviously a lot of confidence heading into this season … but we need to find that 1 or 2 per cent, on days when our footy isn’t going as well, (so) we can flip that script and turn that into the result we’re chasing. “That’s something that we’re focusing on this pre-season.” The Lions weren’t the only Brisbane team to lose a grand final last season, with the Broncos blowing a big lead in the NRL decider in being beaten 26-24 by Penrith.
Both of the Brisbane teams crossed paths last week at training camps on the Sunshine Coast.
“Not necessarily on that camp, but we’d already spoken, maybe over a few beverages as to where it all went wrong for (both teams), but I know they took a lot of learnings from their loss as well, so let’s hope we can have another good year of sport in Brisbane,” Zorko said. have already traded away the 2024 draft picks that could be integral to a mid-season trade period.
Many clubs also have salary caps largely set in stone for 2024 at 100 per cent capacity as the league considers the myriad flow-on effects of trading players mid-year.
Collingwood, Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs have already traded their 2024 first-round picks so giving all clubs a 12-month lead-in would be a fairer proposition.
The league will take on board the feedback from clubs but is strongly in favour of a mid-season trade period to expand opportunities for greater player movement.