Former Brisbane skipper Dayne Zorko ready to answer the Lions’ call for defensive reinforcement

Brisbane Lions star Dayne Zorko has embraced the need to be versatile and willing to play anywhere on the park.

Versatile veteran Dayne Zorko has put his hand up to spend more time in a battered Brisbane Lions backline.

Already without star defender Keidean Coleman (knee) for the rest of the AFL season, the Lions are also set to lose inventive halfback Conor McKenna (hamstring) for potentially three matches.

Key defender Darcy Gardiner is also battling a knee injury ahead of Brisbane’s grand final rematch with premiers Collingwood next Thursday at the Gabba.

It’s not an ideal situation for a Lions side that also now needs to defy history to win the flag this year, with no team this century having won the premiership after losing its first two games of the season.

Zorko was confident Brisbane could buck that trend, saying not all was lost despite back-to-back losses to Carlton and Fremantle.

“We certainly believe we can,” the former Brisbane skipper said when asked if the Chris Fagan-coached Lions could end the hoodoo.

“We’ve seen glimpses of our absolute over the past two weeks but for whatever reason, we just haven’t been able to keep that momentum going.

“We’ll look at the trends that are happening and we’ll address them.

“We’re a team that under (Fagan’s) reign, we’ve learnt really quickly from our mistakes, and once we’ve identified them, we’ve got to work on fixing them, and I think this’ll be no different.”

Dayne Zorko is more than happy to play in Brisbane’s backline. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Zorko said the Lions had plenty of options to play in a reshuffled defence and he would gladly do so if required.

“I certainly haven’t hidden from the fact that I do like to play in the backline,” he said.

“Defensively at times, I’ve probably let myself down, but I certainly enjoy seeing the game from that point of view, and being a forward for so many years in my career, you certainly understand when you’re in and when you’re not.

“One thing that (Fagan) has really stressed to us over the last six years is that players need to be able to play multiple positions for this reason.

“Myself, Cam (Rayner), Jarrod Berry at times, have gone down there and played in the backline, so we’re certainly not short of stocks in that department. Jimmy Madden’s going really well as well.

“Whoever gets called upon needs to be ready to play that position, and their role for the team.

“If I go back there, I go back there, it not, that’s all right. I’ll keep plying my trade up front.”

Off-season recruit and talented defender Tom Doedee could make his first AFL appearance for Brisbane next week after recovering from the serious knee injury he suffered in June playing for Adelaide.

“He’s obviously a class player,” Zorko said of the former Crow.

“He’s played a number of years in Adelaide, he’s been a real stalwart in their defence, so he’d add a lot of experience and depth to our group.”

Zorko was also confident the Lions co-captain and talisman Lachie Neale would return against the Magpies after missing last Sunday’s loss to the Dockers because of a hamstring injury.

“He trained really strong (on Thursday) so that was encouraging,” Zorko said.

“No doubt he’ll have a few more hurdles that he has to overcome but hopefully he’s good to go.”