Dayne Zorko will be the fifth-oldest grand final player in the AFL’s modern era on Saturday.
And he’ll storm into the grand final decider against Sydney at the MCG in sparking form and one of just three players who can win the Gary Ayres Medal as the Player of the 2024 Finals.
Zorko polled one vote in the Ayres Medal against Geelong last Saturday night, when Brisbane out-voted Geelong 23-7 on the 5-4-3-2-1 votes of the coaches.
Lachie Neale (9) headed the Brisbane vote from Ryan Lester (5), Zac Bailey (4), Josh Dunkley (3), Hugh McCluggage (1) and Zorko (1), while Ollie Henry (4) and Gryan Miers (3) polled for Geelong.
In Sydney’s win over Port Adelaide it was a 30-0 whitewash for the victors – Isaac Heeney (10), Chad Warner (6), Ollie Florent (6), Errol Gulden (4), Nick Blakey (2), Joel Amartey (2).
The leaderboard after three weeks of the finals sees Sydney’s Isaac Heeney (20) lead Zorko (15), Hawthorn’s Jai Newcombe (15), Neale (13), Geelong’s Max Holmes (10), Port Adelaide’s Jas Burgoyne (10), and McCluggage (9.
But with only Brisbane and Sydney players in a position to poll further, and a maximum 10 votes available to any one player, it comes down to Heeney, who has two 10-vote ratings in Sydney’s two finals, Zorko, the only player to poll in all three weeks, or Neale.
Zorko is also fifth favorite in early betting for the Norm Smith Medal, listed at $11 with TAB, the Lions’ betting partner. Heeney is favorite at $5 from Neale $7, Sydney’s Warner and Gulden at $8, Zorko, McCluggage at $15, Sydney’s Nick Blakey, Brodie Grundy and Tom Papley at $21, Brisbane’s Joe Daniher, Josh Dunkley, Will Ashcroft and Cam Rayner at $26, and Charlie Cameron at $34
Zorko will be 332 days beyond his 35th birthday in Saturday’s grand final against Sydney.
The only players older in a premiership decider since the birth of the Brisbane Football Club and the advent of the national competition in 1987 are:-
Michael Tuck – Hawthorn – 1991 – 38 years 96 days
Gary Ablett Jnr – Geelong – 2020 – 36 years 163 days
Alastair Lynch – Brisbane – 2004 – 36 years 98 days
Craig Bradley – Carlton – 1999 – 35 years 337 days
Tuck also played in the 1991 grand final at 36 years 98 days.
In a cryptic sense Zorko has become to the Lions in 2024 what Jimmy Carter is to US politics, what Clint Eastwood, Dick Van Dyke and Mel Brooks are to the international movie world, and what David Attenborough is to UK broadcasting.
He’s an energiser and top-end performer who has defied the aging process … as have Carter, who will turn 100 on 1 October, and Eastwood, Van Dyke, Brooks and Attenborough, who are 98.
Born 9 February 1989, Zorko was one of only six players born in the 1980’s who played in the AFL this year. The others were Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury (7 January 1988), Essendon’s Todd Goldstein (1 July 1988), Geelong’s Tom Hawkins (21 July 1988) Port’s Travis Boak (1 August 1988) and Geelong’s Zach Tuohy (10 December 1989). And already Hawkins and Tuohy have retired as Boak weighs up his future. Like Zorko, Pendlebury and Goldstein will play on in 2025.
And while Pendlebury’s 19th season delivered a very respectable 20.7 possessions per game and seven goals through the midfield, Zorko’s 26.3ppg and nine goals off half back, which saw him become the oldest All-Australian selection of the modern era, was the standout for the League’s senior citizens.
With a career-best 685 possessions this year – up from his previous high of 555 in 23 games in 2021 – Zorko is set to join Neale as the only Brisbane players to have 700-plus in a season.
Neale had 749 possessions in 25 games in 2022 and 742 in 24 games in 2019, and has had 727 in 25 games this year.
With 31-year-old 35-gamer Darcy Fort poised to replace the injured Oscar McInerney this week, the Lions 2024 grand final side will be on average 71 days a man older than last year, and a total of 30 games less experienced.
Assuming Fort for McInerney is the only change, this will mean six changes from 12 months ago, with Fort, Will Ashcroft, Kai Lohmann, Noah Answerth, Jack Payne and Logan Morris in for the injured McInerney, Lincoln McCarthy, Darcy Gardiner and Keidean Coleman, the retiring Jarryd Lyons and Deven Robertson.
Morris, who will be 19 years 141 days old in his 19th game on Saturday, will be the youngest and least experienced member of the Brisbane side, and the youngest in any of the club’s six grand finals in 2001-02-03-04-23-24.
Morris will be only the fourth teenager in a Lions grand final side after Jonathan Brown (19/334) in 2001 and Jaspa Fletcher (19/218) and Darcy Wilmot (19/273) last year.
And he’ll rank16th youngest among all grand final players since the birth of the national competition in 1987 – a list headed by Melbourne’s Andy Lovell at 18 years 58 days in 1998.
Other 18-year-olds have been Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher (18/141 in 1993), West Coast’s Glen Jakovich (18/188 in 1991), Essendon’s Joe Misiti (18/320 in 1993) and West Coast’s Ashley McIntosh (18/343 in 1991).
The Lions’ no-fuss and seemingly unflappable third tall forward, who has kicked 22 goals in his first season, will be the fourth least-experienced player in a Lions grand final side behind Richard Hadley, who was in just his fourth game in 2003, Fletcher at 14 games last year, and Robert Copeland at 17 games in 2001.
Among the least experienced players in an AFL grand final since 1987, Hadley is #3 behind Richmond’s Marlion Pickett, who debuted in the 2019 grand final, and Adelaide’s Aaron Keating, brother of Brisbane triple premiership hero Clark Keating, who played in the 1997 grand final in his fourth game.
