AFL 2022: The Brisbane Lions want to protect not punish under-fire captain Dayne Zorko

The footy world wants Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko punished but the Lions won’t be moved.

Dayne Zorko of the Lions leaves the field after losing to the Demon . (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

The Brisbane Lions are desperate to move amid growing fallout from captain Dayne Zorko’s sledge of Melbourne defender Harrison Petty as they try to look after the skipper’s mental health.

Zorko apologised, via a statement, ion the weekend after his sledge, reported to be about Petty’s mum, left the Demon on tears at the Gabba last Friday night.

The Lions have not deemed it necessary to penalise Zorko, nor has his captaincy been in question, with the AFL also ruling out a sanction.

But as calls grow for action to be taken against Zorko, Lions football boss Danny Daly said the club was keen to move on and instead focusing on looking after the captain.

“The club addressed the issue with Melbourne on Friday night straight after the game, the club made a statement on Saturday morning and that’s where it sits,” Daly said on Monday morning.

“To be perfectly honest, our goal right now is to make sure Dayne is okay from a mental health perspective.

Dayne Zorko of the Lions (Photo by Albert Perez/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“He’s spent a weekend at home on his own with his partner working through it, but from a club perspective, we’ve put it to bed and Melbourne accepted our apology on Saturday and that’s where it lies.

“We’re just making sure Dayne is going okay, that’s what we need to do as a football club. He came out and apologised on Saturday … from a mental health perspective we just need to make sure he’s going okay.

“That’s all we’ve done, it hasn’t gone any higher at this stage. Everyone had the weekend off, returned to work today and see what today brings for us.”

Daly said calls for Zorko’s captaincy to come under question were too reactive and that the 33-year-old has been a strong leader since taking over Brisbane’s full-time captaincy in 2019.

“I’d probably say to look at the last four years since he‘s been the captain, he himself as a leader along with Chris Fagan as our coach and as a leader have done an outstanding job in getting this club back on track,” Daly told SEN.

“We’ve qualified for our fourth finals series in a row so he’s done a lot right, I understand what’s happened on the weekend and the commentary around it all and people have got their opinion which is fine, but from a club perspective, we think he’s done a fantastic job over the four-year period he’s been skipper.

An incident involving Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko and Melbourne defender Harrison Petty is set to be investigated by the AFL following the Demons’ big win on Friday night Picture 7News,

“He had a little bit of a let up on Friday night, we had a chat to him about that and we move on.

“I’m sure he’ll come back in the next game against Richmond bigger and better and he’ll lead from the front again.”

Melbourne premiership star Christian Petracca also told Melbourne radio on Monday the comments from Zorko were disappointing, but the Demons has also moved on.

“I don’t want to comment on the actual of what he said,” Petracca told KIIS 101.1.

“Zorko has put it to bed and we’ve put it to bed so the biggest thing is just moving on from it.”

“It’s frustrating. There’s a line. Petty was pretty distressed. He is fine now, I think what was said was pretty raw and emotional. As a footy club, we addressed it really well.”