Lions gun Dayne Zorko has admitted it was his seven-year-old son Louis who first worked out he could be celebrating a milestone on grand final day.
Zorko will indeed play his 250th game against Collingwood today.
He missed several games in the middle of the year with injury, and said his son started crunching the numbers as soon as he returned.
“My son’s been onto it for a long time. I’ve had a few injuries throughout the year which has had its challenges, but he worked out pretty quickly this would be the case,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“It’s such a privilege to play one game of AFL football, but to play 250 and for it to be in the occasion like the grand final, I’m forever grateful.”
Zorko also denied reports the final siren today would also mark the end of his AFL career.
The 34-year-old is off-contract at the end of the year, but admitted he’s baffled at the speculation he would hang up the boots.
“I’ve seen a little bit of this, reporting on this … I don’t know what that speculation is and why,” Zorko said.
“We always seem to knock down players when they get to a certain age where they must retire. My football has been as good as it’s been over my career over the last 12 months, my body is in really good shape, there’s no reason as to why I wouldn’t continue to play next year.”
