Zorko: Reason Lions can lift again

Brisbane veteran Dayne Zorko is adamant the Lions didn’t play their “grand final” in their miracle win over the GWS Giants, believing his side can again lift against Geelong in another do-or-die battle at the MCG on Saturday.

The Lions were euphoric after coming back from 44 points down in the third quarter to end the Giants’ season with a five-point weekend victory at Engie Stadium.

“It was pretty special,” Zorko said on Monday.

“The boys kicked straight when it mattered. Everyone took their moments, and the rest is history.”

The Lions must now refocus ahead of their preliminary final against the Cats at the MCG, where the winner will advance to the following Saturday’s decider against either the Sydney Swans or Port Adelaide.

“Geelong have knocked us out of two of the three prelim finals we’ve been in, so the motivation‘s certainly there,” Zorko said when asked about making sure the Lions can rise again after the emotion of their win over GWS.

“For us it’s just about drawing from our experiences in the past.

We had a really good win against Melbourne away in 2022, and then we rocked up to the MCG the next week when Geelong gave us an absolute lesson (in the preliminary final), so we’ll take a lot of learnings from that.

“We’ve got some fresh faces in there that are going to continue to bring the energy, which is great, then it’s over to us older boys to really keep control over the team, have a really good week at training, recover really well and rock up ready to go again.

“We’re in the exact same position as what it was two years ago. They qualified straight through (to the preliminary final), were the in-form team of the competition, and nothing’s changed there, they’re still the in-form team of the competition.

“They’ve had their week to freshen up, but we’ve got the momentum and the confidence from the weekend’s game.

Zorko said Brisbane “matched up really well” against the Cats despite Geelong beating the Lions by 26 points in wet and windy conditions at the Gabba in April.

“They got the wood over us at the Gabba earlier this year. Inaccuracy definitely cost us but they played the conditions superbly,” the former Lions skipper told the SENQ Breakfast Show.

“They’re such a smart team. They’re a really mature team and have experienced a lot in their last decade-and-a-half of finals experience, so we’ll be absolutely ready for it. We’ll go down there with nothing to lose.”

Zorko will be available for the match after being sanctioned with only a fine for striking the Giants’ Isaac Cumming in the second quarter of Brisbane’s win on Saturday night.

The fine of $3750 will be reduced to $2500 with an early plea.

“You could clearly see they were trying to be physical and put a bit of attention into me,” said Zorko, who kicked two goals and accrued 25 disposals in the victory.