Footy star breaks his silence on brutal ‘mother’ sledge that left his rival in tears

Dayne Zorko has claimed that he was provoked in the build up to his brutal sledge that left Harrison Petty in tears.

AFL fans were up in arms this week when neither the league nor the Brisbane Lions decided to punish Zorko after he made a comment pertaining to the Melbourne star’s family during their defeat at the Gabba on Friday.

However, while acknowledging that he had ‘crossed the line’, the 33-year-old has insisted that he was provoked during the feisty contest in Queensland. 

‘Obviously I apologised to Harrison on the final siren and obviously that apology still stands,’ Zorko said on SEN.

‘I guess my remorse still stands. Certainly if I could take it back there is no doubt I would.

‘For me, I want to get across that it was an intense game and from the first bounce there was too-ing and fro-ing from both sides of the fence, players across the field probably stepped up to the line all game.

‘I acknowledge that I certainly crossed that. I guess for me it’s just really important that Lions fans and fans in general understand that it wasn’t just an unprovoked sledge and it wasn’t said in isolation.

‘As I said, there was too-ing and fro-ing for the majority of the game and, remorsefully, I accept that I overstepped the mark and thought it was really important that I came out and said something and that people understood that.’

When asked whether comments made by the Melbourne players had also crossed the line, Zorko replied ‘potentially’, although he was unwilling to disclose what had been said. 

‘I need to acknowledge that what I said clearly crossed that line and I fully and totally understand that through the heat of battle words are said and for me, in this case, I overstepped the mark,’ he added.

‘Moving forward I need to learn from this – and potentially the whole industry – that we can learn from this and move forward and understand that sledging can have serious effects on people and we need to be extremely careful in the way that we do it.

‘I’m not sure that sledging will ever go out of the game, but certainly the worlds you choose to use, they certainly need (be) used wiser.

‘It’s really important that you don’t cross that line like I did.’

There have been increasing calls for Zorko to be stripped of the Lions captaincy following the incident, but the 33-year-old is adamant that he takes his leadership duties ‘extremely seriously’. 

‘I have had extremely long conversations with our senior administration at the club. They have heard both sides of the story,’ Zorko said.

‘It should be well known that I take my role as captain extremely seriously and I have ever since I took over five years ago.

‘So, I think on that matter, the captaincy has always been a decision that has been made by the players and our playing group. That’s one thing that ‘Fages’ (coach Chris Fagan) and the administration have said, ‘Whoever is captain will be chosen by their players and their teammates’.

‘I guess for me, until that is up for decision again, I will respect whatever the players choose to do when that happens, but that’s all that we touched on the matter.’