As if playing for the Brisbane Lions were not already punishment enough, Dayne Zorko is now under scrutiny for the perception that he lacked the proper display of sportsmanship when his side came up five points short in the recent match with the Gold Coast Suns.
Zorko, according to some sources, one being news.com.au, apparently had an expletive in place of the post-game handshake, when he told an opponent to “f*** off.”
Zorko had a difficult outing, as he was limited throughout the game by Touk Miller. Zorko managed only 10 disposals for the game and he gave away six free kicks.
The incident compelled the Lions to issue a statement, saying, “In relation to the incident between Dayne Zorko and Touk Miller after the siren in yesterday’s QClash, Dayne spoke to the club today and admitted he was frustrated immediately after the siren went. If he had his time over again he would act differently.”
In Zorko’s defense, it would be worth noting that some people need more time than others to process a loss. If 15 minutes or half an hour had gone by, Zorko may have regained his composure, to an extent, at least.
This sort of thing is being caught more often, as the number of cameras on players has grown to the extent that someone scratching an itch is often seen and ridiculed for being itchy.
On the other hand, 10 disposals by Zorko is only slightly below his average of 16 for the first five rounds of the Toyota 2018 AFL Premiership competition, so the frustration of the All-Australian may derive from another source, such as playing for a side that has yet to win in 2018, or something during the Suns match that went without notice.
The Lions’ fixture going forward does not appear to offer much in the way of relief; about the only thing that has gone well for them in 2018 is that two of their five losses were by a combined total of 10 points.
