Brisbane GM of Football Danny Daly has commented further on the incident involving Lions captain Dayne Zorko and Melbourne’s Harrison Petty.
Addressing the sledge that left Petty in tears for the first time since Friday night, Daly said the club’s goal now revolves around ensuring Zorko is okay after a barrage of criticism over the weekend.
Zorko reportedly told Petty something similar to: “I hope your mother dies”, and the Lions skipper has copped a whack from the football industry.
Dual-premiership Kangaroo David King described Zorko as a “recidivist” on Monday morning. Zorko apologised via a Brisbane statement on Saturday morning and Daly suggested the club’s involvement is now complete given Petty and Melbourne are now comfortable with the situation.
It’s understood Zorko won’t be sanctioned by the AFL for the three quarter time sledge.
“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 told SENQ Mornings.
“To be perfectly honest, our goal right now is to make sure Dayne is okay from a mental health perspective.
“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 was also asked to respond to calls for Zorko to lose his captaincy. The 33-year-old has been Brisbane’s full-time captain since 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 continued.
“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.
“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.”
Zorko finished Friday night’s 58-point loss to Melbourne with 18 possessions and four clearances.