The bittersweet sensation Brisbane Lions skipper Dayne Zorko is desperate to leave behind

So much so that at least one fan will claim he followed the wrong path in life by choosing footy – despite a record-equalling fifth best-and-fairest triumph last September.

Zorko’s story as the ‘bricklayer from Broadbeach’ is a favourite origin story, and we start in similar fashion with Lions’ media manager Andrew Hamilton, who almost dropped his stubby a couple of years ago when delivering some tickets to Brisbane premiership player Aaron Shattock.

At the time, Shattock was having some work done on his home and a bricklayer on site noted Hamilton was wearing Brisbane shorts as he chatted with Shattock.

The brickie, it turned out, was absolutely besotted by the skills of Zorko.

His dad Alex, that is, not the Lions star. He declared there had never been a better bricklayer on the Gold Coast.

Local lore has it that the Zorkos built half of Byron Bay, busily putting up homes and fences and pools in the coastal hamlet over a number of years.

This is why the brickie could not believe that Zorko, after serving an apprenticeship with his father while playing with Broadbeach, left the family business to chase an AFL career.

When told the story on the recent AFL Captains’ Day, Zorko laughed. He is particularly proud of the sacrifices his father made, despite a hectic work schedule, to give him a chance.

Zorko has made the most of his opportunities to carve out a fine career that once looked light years from likely. But as he contemplated that fifth Merrett-Murray Medal last year, the final gap in a glittering resumé loomed large once more.

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Zorko is rightly proud of levelling Lions legend Michael Voss’s high-water mark of five best-and-fairest awards. And yet he notes it truly was the most bittersweet of celebrations in the wake of Brisbane’s 2021 campaign.

Bounced out of the finals by the Western Bulldogs by one point a week earlier, he could not help but consider the glaring difference between Voss and himself.

Voss captained the Lions to three premierships at the turn of the century, in the process building a legacy in Queensland that Zorko credits with helping his own career take flight.

The Lions have won more home-and-away games than any other club over the past three seasons, yet have played in just one preliminary final when well beaten by Geelong in 2020.

Reversing the trend in September, and leading the Lions to another flag, is something the 33-year-old is desperate to achieve in his time as the Brisbane captain.

“I reckon on the night of actually getting awarded, I was quite emotional. And there was a sense of, I guess, pride,” he says.

“But I think once you become a little bit older, [more] mature, you hear tales of what it‘s like winning a premiership and the friendships and the camaraderie around that.

“All those awards individually that you win sort of become, I won‘t say irrelevant, because obviously it’s a nice achievement, but it certainly wouldn’t mean as much without a premiership. ‘

“I mean, I‘ve been fortunate enough to be coached by Vossy. I want that legacy. That champion team legacy. I’m super proud of winning those individual awards, but I want something much greater than that.”

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The Lions host Port Adelaide at the Gabba on Saturday night in a clash between clubs that have contended recently but ultimately fallen short in the finals.

Over the past three seasons, Brisbane has played six finals for only one win, a 15-point triumph in a qualifying final against eventual premiers Richmond at the Gabba in 2020.

The inability to carry their regular season form through the finals month is a query. But the disappointments have not tempered the belief at Brisbane, nor the premiership threat other teams perceive them as.

In a recent survey of AFL captains, the Lions were viewed as the second-most likely grand finalists behind reigning premiers Melbourne.

The phrase “premiership window” is a favourite of pundits and a theory Zorko subscribes to.

“There were a couple of close defeats there. You know, the Bulldogs last year by a point obviously sticks out pretty evidently,” he says.

“But I think we‘re building, and where we have come from, and the experiences that we’ve learned over the past three years, I’d like to think that they’re going to hold us in really good stead.

“People talk about premiership windows and they are probably a thing. I feel like we are rightfully coming into ours.

“You look at our age demographic. We‘re still the third or fourth youngest team in the AFL. So what we’ve been able to achieve the past few years is excellent. It’s been with a lot of younger players.

“Those guys are now reaching 100 games, 150 games, and all of a sudden, this team is really starting to come together.

“We‘ve got the right personnel. We’ve got fantastic coaches. There’s a real great camaraderie around the boys. I think all that’s really important. Our culture is really healthy.”

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Patience, good timing, dedication and luck are factors crucial to winning premierships.

They have also proven pivotal in the path that led Zorko, who is building an impressive media resume on the side as he prepares for his post-playing career, to this stage in his life.

It helps to explain the All Australian’s desire to create another premiership legacy for the Lions, just as the Voss-led Brisbane did two decades ago.

Almost half a century ago, Alex Zorko arrived with his parents in Australia as a schoolboy, with the family mindful of the potential for conflict that culminated in the Bosnian War.

“They came out when dad was 10. It was getting pretty nasty over in Yugoslavia and Slovenia, so the safest option for the family was to migrate to Australia. They set up in Melbourne,” Zorko says.

About a decade later, Alex Zorko moved to the Gold Coast. Even though Queensland was rugby league and union territory, he had developed an appreciation for Australian rules.

“That‘s what people always asked me on the Gold Coast. Especially growing up in primary school, ’Where did you come from? And why are you playing AFL?’ This is a rugby league state,” Zorko says.

“I guess Dad, once he moved to Victoria, the AFL and soccer were really the two only sports going on. NRL wasn‘t an option.

So when dad moved up as an 18-year-old, 19-year-old to the Gold Coast, he joined up to the local AFL club because that is all he knew, and … I guess, as kids, we watched that. That‘s just what we did.”

What also helped Zorko is that, in large part due to the premiership reign of the Lions between 2001 and 2003, an AFL program was put in place at Benowa High School.

“There‘s no way that would have happened, you know, five years before that. So it’s amazing how that part, the success of the Brisbane Lions in the early 2000s, really generated a strong pathway for what football is now and no doubt helped me as well.”

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Zorko played his junior footy at Surfers Paradise and was good enough to captain a Queensland under 18s side from which almost one-third of the team was drafted.

But not the skipper, who was considered too small at 175cm to be considered in 2007.

By 2011 he had claimed three straight best-and-fairests for Broadbeach without securing an AFL invite and was told to lift his professionalism further by club coach Matt Angus.

“I was like, ‘What does professionalism look like for your average 18, 19-year-old kid who lives on the Gold Coast?’,” Zorko says.

“Gary Fox, who actually used to be a strength and conditioning coach here (at Brisbane), had a good idea of what it took to be a professional athlete. He really took me under his wing and he had me training at 5.30 in the morning.

“Then I’d go bricklaying all day with dad and he‘d get me straight off after bricklaying (and) straight to his gym at home.

“I guess he made me understand what it actually took to be some form of professional athlete. And from there, once I got into the AFL system, I just listened.

“Whether it be because I was too short or too slow, whatever the knock on me was beforehand, I wasn‘t going to let that stop me from trying to do my absolute best.”

Zorko, who was zoned to the Gold Coast Suns, dominated in a state clash against Western Australia in Mandurah in June that year, catching the eye of Brisbane list manager Rob Kerr.

A trade was orchestrated, with the Suns receiving pick 34 to forego their rights to the Broadbeach skipper, and Zorko zipped up the Pacific Highway to begin life at Brisbane.

The Brisbane captain, who underwent a small procedure on his Achilles last month, has proven just as durable as consistently good when averaging 21 games a season.

At the same time, the burden of captaincy has not affected Zorko’s form one bit.

Yet the two-time Lions leading goalkicker is determined to be a better skipper again in 2022, believing his own improvement will also be beneficial to Brisbane.

The ultra-competitiveness of Zorko has flared at times, with the Brisbane skipper mindful he has crossed the line on occasion when reacting to decisions.

But the luxury of leading a team that included Luke Hodge, a three-time premiership skipper with Hawthorn, helped hone his captaincy and he feels well-placed leading into this year.

“I think my style is that I love to get out there and put my emotions into the game but that necessarily hasn‘t worked in patches,” he said.

“I‘m constantly tinkering with my own field stuff, which has been detrimental to the group of times. I certainly won’t hide from that.

“In terms of my demeanour towards umpires, the stuff out on the field that actually hurts the team in the long run? You know, a 50-50 decision might not necessarily go our way. So, yeah, I‘ve had a look at that. And that’s an area that I’m really trying to work on.

“Off-field, I feel like I‘m a person who gives everyone an opportunity to have a voice. There’s no shaming. No shooting down. There’s no such thing as a stupid question.

“Fages (coach Chris Fagan), his biggest saying, or something that he lives by, his mantra, (is that) you just consistently grow. Have an open mind. Really have a growth mindset.

“No one is ever going to be perfect in leadership. But I want to try and be the best I can be.”