Dayne Zorko will become the #1 ticket-holder of the Brisbane Lions “Golden Oldies” on Sunday.
As the Lions face a crunch game against the Sydney Swans at the Gabba Zorko will play his 124th game since turning 30 to better the club record of 123 shared by Roger Merrett and Alastair Lynch.
He will move to outright 22nd on the all-time AFL list of games played beyond 30, headed by Carlton’s Craig Bradley (195), Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck (190), Port Adelaide/Hawthorn utility Shaun Burgoyne (186), North’s AFL games record-holder Brent Harvey (184) and Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher (170).
Fitzroy champion Kevin Murray is 12th on this list at 140 games and one of five Fitzroy players to play 100-plus post-30. The others Clen Denning and Bert Clay (116), Bernie Quinlan (115) and Charlie Norris (102).
Zorko, Roger Merrett and Lynch are the only Brisbane players in this group, with nine beyond 50 games post-30 - Simon Black (89), Shaun Hart (84), Stefan Martin (76), Mitch Robinson (68), Daniel Rich (67), Andrew Bews (61), Martin Pike (59), Geoff Raines (59) and Marcus Ashcroft (51).
It is a phenomenal effort from a player who did not debut until 23 and on Sunday will join Darryl White equal 8th on the club’s all-time games list at 268. He trails only Black (322), Ashcroft (318), Michael Voss (289), Luke Power (282), Nigel Lappin (279), Rich (275) and Hart (273), with Jonathan Brown (256) completing the top 10.
Zorko is the only Queenslander to play 100-plus games beyond 30, with Jason Akermanis (77) and Jason Dunstall (66), Charlie Dixon (63) and Ashcroft (51) the only others beyond 50, with Dixon still playing.
Other current AFL players beyond 100 games post-30 are Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury (145), Geelong’s Tom Hawkins (134) and Essendon’s Todd Goldstein (125). Port’s Travis Boak (123) is level with Zorko.
Zorko, who will be 163 days beyond his 35th birthday on Sunday, is Brisbane’s third-oldest player behind Roger Merrett (36/155) and Lynch (36/98). He’ll need to play beyond 14 July next year to better the Merrett record.
Luke Hodge, who finished his career with Brisbane, is in the record books as the club’s fourth-oldest player at 35 years 91 days, ahead of Black (34/136), Andew Bews (34/41), Stefan Martin (33/335), Grant Birchall (33/219), Ben Hudson (33/191), Matt Rendell (33/133), Hart (33/124), Mitch Robinson (33/86), Geoff Raines (33/24) and Rich (33/3).
Martin was 35/269 when he finished his career at the Western Bulldogs, and Hudson, now the Lions’ VFL coach, was 34/146 when he finally hung up the boots at Collingwood.
Also in the 100 games post-30 club is Lions assistant-coach Dale Morris. He played 102 games post-30 at the Western Bulldogs.
John Blakey, who started his career at Fitzroy before moving to North, played 143 games post-30, while long-time teammate Paul Roos, who later played at Sydney, played 116 and adopted favorite Hodge 108.
Among 1157 Fitzroy players all-time 113 played beyond the age of 30 but only five topped 100 games from that point on – Kevin Murray (140), Clen Denning and Bert Clay (116), Bernie Quinlan (115) and Charlie Norris (102)
