DAYNE Zorko is flattered – but surprised – at the opposition attention he is copping less than 12 months after making his AFL debut.

The Brisbane Lions' pocket rocket has quickly become a marked man, with opponents sending run-with players or negating small defenders to him in most of the first five rounds.

From the moment Liam Picken kept him to 11 touches in round one and the Western Bulldogs flogged the Lions, it looked a pretty good blueprint.

But as the weeks have gone on, Zorko has improved, and with him, so have the Lions.

He had 29 disposals, three goals and four tackles in last weekend's win against Melbourne and said it was a relaxed mindset that helped him adjust his game.

"I guess it comes down to work-rate and how hard you work," Zorko said.

"If you go in with the mindset that you've got a person on you tagging you the whole game it could get in your head a bit.

"The last few weeks I've put that behind me and I've welcomed the attention I'm probably going to get and I've just worked through it during the game and asked teammates for a little bit of help and it's probably worked the last few weeks."

Zorko only made his debut against Collingwood in round seven last season, but quickly rose to prominence.

While it was his unusual name that initially captured commentators' attention, it became his play as the half forward/midfielder averaged 20 disposals, six tackles and one goal for each of his 16 matches that left the stronger impression.

Zorko said he was surprised to be getting so much opposition attention early in his career.

"Coming from my point of view, we've got great players like (Daniel) Rich and (Tom) Rockliff ad (Jack) Redden and (Brent) Moloney who are damaging players and have been for a while now," he said.

"So I guess it's a compliment to myself. Teams obviously feel I could be dangerous so I guess it's a compliment in that way.

"I personally think there's better players on our team, but not to worry."

And Zorko looks like having another difficult task when the Lions take on the Swans in Sydney on Sunday, with Nick Smith a likely match-up.

"I had him last year. He's a great defender, he's strong all day. My job is to run him around and my work-rate has got to go up a notch because he's fit as well, he's having a good season so it's going to be a good challenge for me and the team."