Brisbane Lions gun Dayne Zorko, coach Chris Fagan in on-field ‘blow up’

The look on a Lions star’s face after an animated exchange with coach Chris Fagan said it all as tensions simmer at the football club.

Lions coach Chris Fagan has given a blunt explanation for his animated sideline talk with former captain Dayne Zorko on Thursday night.

There have been cracks appearing at the reigning premiers all season — and the issues were there for all to see when Fagan appeared to bark orders at Zorko that were not well received.

Fagan insisted after the game the tense exchange was not the reason the reigning premiers’ unbeaten start to the year ended with a 16.9 (105) to 7.11 (53) loss to Collingwood at the Gabba.

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Zorko walked away from the third quarter conversation with an incredulous look on his face.

Zorko had been called to the sideline after giving away a 50m free kick for umpire dissent when the Lions were just 14 points down and still right in the contest.

The 36-year-old has a history of letting his emotions run hot and he couldn’t help himself when he let his tongue slip against the whistle-blower.

You can watch the incident in the video player above.

Dane Zorko got a stern talking to. Photo: 7Plus.

Dane Zorko's face said it all. Photo: 7Plus.

It takes a lot to get Chris Fagan angry. Photo: 7Plus.

Fagan imparted some wisdom to Zorko as the veteran came to the sideline with cameras capturing the whole incident.

“Body language a bit interesting on the bench,” Fox Footy’s Nathan Buckley said.

“There was a bit of a blow up.”

Zorko returned to the field and was not dragged to the bench, but the look on his face after turning back to the coach said it all.

Footage later showed Zorko sprawled on the bench with his hands above his head.

Collingwood icon Buckley said he expects Zorko and Fagan to quickly put the incident behind them.

“They’ve been in each other’s corner for a long time – that’ll turn around real quick,” he said.

Former Port Adelaide premiership player Kane Cornes said Zorko “has got to be better than that” when commentating on Channel 7.

Fagan downplayed the verbal exchange in his post-match press conference.

“He was a bit under the collar at the time, and I said to him ‘mate, you’d better calm down’, so it wasn’t anything more than that,” Fagan said.

“I’m not going to say that’s why we lost.”

Dayne Zorko was in no mood. Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

The Lions were blown off the park in the second half.

Fagan said the 52-point home loss to Collingwood “won’t hurt” them after a run of 10 successive wins.

It was the premiers’ first defeat since August last year — also to the Magpies — in what Fagan described as a “bad day” and a “shocker”.

“I just thought Collingwood were way more desperate to win than what we were,” the Lions mentor said.

“They were more on than us. They were just more energetic. They attacked the ball with more vigour. They hunted in packs better than what we did.

“There were a lot of things that we didn’t do well ... but I look at this group, they’d won 19 of their last 21 games. You’re going to have a bad day at some point in time. We haven’t had one for a long time.

“We had a shocker, and Collingwood played really well - all credit to them. We had a lot of our really good players that played below their normal levels, and it was just a lacklustre performance, but uncommon for us ... so we’ll have a look at it on the tape and see.”

The Lions have dominated most of the second halves they have played this season, managing to win games despite barely showing up in the first half of some games.

They will need to start playing all four quarters to stop Fagan from barking more orders.

— with NewsWire