Brisbane claws back some pride with win over Carlton

BRISBANE vice-captain Dayne Zorko says having their pride deeply wounded in back-to-back thrashings was the spark for the Lions’ fighting four-point win over Carlton.

BRISBANE vice-captain Dayne Zorko says having their pride deeply wounded in back-to-back thrashings was the spark for the Lions’ fighting four-point win over Carlton on Saturday.

Port Adelaide (94 points in Round 19) and Adelaide (138 points, Round 20) sent Brisbane’s winter of discontent to new depths before the Lions bounced back with a mixture of class, character and calamity for their third victory of 2016.

Zorko produced one of the finest individual first-half displays seen at the Gabba in recent times on the way to 27 disposals and three goals. He kicked his 100th career goal in his 99th AFL game.

An incident when Zorko gave away a 50m penalty may be looked at by the match review panel and could possibly prevent him from bringing up his 100-game milestone against Geelong at the Gabba on Sunday.

Zorko said the Lions showed plenty of grit to survive a sizzling Carlton comeback from 40 points down at halftime, to a Dale Thomas kick at goal in the dying minutes that would have put the visitors in front.

“It was a win we really needed to keep spirits up after a pretty tough couple of weeks with the pretty large losses to Port and the Crows,’’ Zorko said.

Dayne Zorko led the Lions to victory over Carlton on Saturday. Picture: AAP

“The boys were pretty low coming into the club, especially after the Adelaide loss but we moved on, trained well and that translated into the game.

“We started well and we had a big focus not to let it slip in the second quarter because our second quarters have been absolutely shocking all year.

“We conceded something like 20 inside 50s in that last five or six minutes but the defenders did a superb job.’’

Zorko is certain to win Brisbane’s best-and-fairest for 2016 after being one of the few senior players to stand up consistently.

He was delighted to return to his best form after quiet outings against the Power and Crows.

“I didn’t have the impact on those games that I would have liked so it was pleasing to get my hands on the footy,” Zorko said.

“The game plan suited me as it was a bit of a run-and-carry game.”

Brisbane midfielder Tom Bell is a chance to play against the Cats after a quicker than expected recovery from a knee injury that looked set to end his season.