Luke Hodge says he would be disappointed if Brisbane did not challenge Dayne Zorko’s one-week suspension for eye gouging.
The former Lions captain was charged by the MRO with making contact to the eye region of Adelaide’s Luke Pedlar in Sunday evening’s loss to the Crows at the Adelaide Oval.
See the incident below:
Dayne Zorko has received a one-match suspension for making contact to the eye region of Crows forward Luke Pedlar.
— AFL (@AFL) May 29, 2023
More MRO findings: https://t.co/iyyNOmMLtF pic.twitter.com/CER3w1ebVl
Zorko’s former Lions teammate Hodge has urged the club to appeal the sanction based on Pedlar’s calm reaction to the incident.
“Any time it looks like a hand raised near someone’s face, you have to put it up just for a conversation to make sure they have a chance to defend it,” Hodge said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“But I also look at the reaction of the player. The player (Pedlar) has got up and they sort of spoke, ‘Zorks’ lifted him up and they had a bit of a joke.
“I would expect for them to fight that because if someone tries to eye gouge you or scratch your face, you get up and you’re going to have a fair go (in retaliation). They got up and spoke, and then started play.
“I can understand for the look of it that they would throw him up but I would expect for Zorko to contest it considering there was no push and shove and no issues between both players.”
Dayne Zorko has been charged with contact to the eye region following our Round 11 match, and will face a one match ban.a
— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) May 29, 2023
Sportsday co-host Kane Cornes believes Zorko would want to contest the ban at the very least to protect his reputation.
“There’s a reputation thing there as well, isn’t there,” he said.
“You don’t want your reputation to be marred by eye gouging, I guess.”
To which Hodge replied: “I’ve got no issues with the AFL putting it up because the look of it, you don’t want that. The look for the game is so important.
“I’d be disappointed if they didn’t fight it for the fact they got up and had no issues back and forth afterwards.”
As it currently stands, Zorko will miss Brisbane’s Round 13 clash with Hawthorn at the MCG following their bye this weekend.
The Lions are yet to confirm if they will appeal or not.