Lions star Dayne Zorko says Western Bulldogs are ‘hottest’ team’ in AFL

The Lions might be in outstanding form, but a Brisbane stalwart believes another team is currently the AFL’s “benchmark”.

Lions veteran Dayne Zorko has rated the Western Bulldogs the AFL’s “benchmark” team despite Brisbane having won nine successive matches to zoom into premiership favouritism.

Fresh from an 85-point weekend spanking of St Kilda, the Lions are now just two points adrift of the first-placed Sydney Swans, who have tasted defeat in five of their past six games, including an embarrassing 112-point loss on Saturday to Port Adelaide.

However, despite his own side’s good form, Zorko said the seventh-placed Bulldogs – whose scalps in their four-game winning run have been Melbourne, the Swans, Geelong and Carlton – were the “hottest team” in the competition.

“Their forwards are flying,” Zorko told SENQ’s Breakfast with Pat and Heals.

“There are some big threats down in that forward line, and then you go into (Marcus) Bontempelli, who’s probably the Brownlow Medal favourite. He’s playing out of this world at the moment.

“They’re complementing each other really well at the moment. I heard them use comparison to their (premiership-winning) 2016 finals run.

“They’re the hottest team at the moment, and they’re probably the benchmark.”

Dayne Zorko (left) says the Western Bulldogs are the AFL’s hottest team. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Also in good form are the Lions’ next opponents, the GWS Giants, who have won five matches in a row ahead of Saturday’s Gabba showdown to be sitting just two points adrift of Brisbane in fourth place on the ladder.

“They were superb against us in Canberra in Anzac round,” Zorko said in reflecting on the Giants’ 54-point win over Brisbane at Manuka Oval on April 25.

“That’s probably the best side I’ve played for a number of years. They flick the ball on, they’re really dynamic, they’re explosive, they know their game plan … we understand the power they have in their side.

“They’re chock-full of confidence, no doubt about that. It’s going to be a huge contest for us.

“You need to bring your best footy every single week to be really competitive in this competition.”

Zorko admitted that after the Lions started their season with five losses from their first seven matches, he “at that stage” probably didn’t expect them to sitting where they were now.

“But I knew we had some really good football in us,” he said.

“Our stats were OK, we just weren’t scoring, and now all the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together, and now our young kids are bringing all that energy.

“They’re starting to have an impact on games, their rollercoaster is starting to even out a little bit, they’re inconsistent games are much better now.

“That all comes with confidence and the team being in good form.

“We’ve worked really hard to give ourselves this opportunity, and we wan to capitalise on it.”

Originally published as Lions star Dayne Zorko says Western Bulldogs are ‘hottest’ team’ in AFL