Dayne Zorko will claim an undeniable place in AFL trivia history with his 100th game on Sunday.

The Lions Vice Captain will be just the seventh player in VFL/AFL history whose surname starts with “Z” to play 100 games.

And, if we extend trivia to extreme proportions, he’ll be the first member of the “Z Brigade” to play 100 games from debut without missing a game through injury or non-selection.

Zorko certainly has covered the other two current day “Z Brigade” centurions – North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell (144 games) and Essendon’s David Zaharakis (145 games). Injury has got them at various times.

Mark Zanotti, who heads the “Z Brigade” games list with 157, missed plenty through injury between his debut in the very first West Coast Eagles game in 1987 and his 100th game for the Brisbane Bears in 1992.

Shane Zantuck, the most travelled member of the “Z Brigade”, was almost a year between his first and second games for North Melbourne in 1974 and 1975 so he cannot contend with the Zorko stretch even before considering a career that stretched to 149 games with North, South Melbourne and Melbourne from 1974-86.

Denis Deunert, who played 110 games for Carlton from 1954-60, had a five-game season in 1958 before he got to the ton so he’s discounted.

And Eric Zschech, who played 102 games for Richmond from 1930-35, was eight weeks between his first game and his second game.

So, next time it comes up at a football trivia night you’ll know that Zorko stands alone at the top of the durability list in the “Z Brigade” 100-game club.

Zorko's rise

Of course, this is a light-hearted look at a very serious and highly commendable achievement.

Indeed, Zorko, who will post his ton against Geelong at the Gabba on Sunday, is one of the game’s great success stories, and a triumph for persistence and perseverance.

At 22 he was highly-regarded player at domestic level who had been overlooked four years in a row by every club in the AFL draft system and didn’t look like he was going to get a chance at the higher level.

But at 27 he’s a standout player with the Lions and favoured this year to join an exclusive group of multiple B&F winners.

Possibly Zorko’s last opportunity to earn a chance step at the elite level came on Saturday 18 June 2011, when he was a member of a Queensland side that played Western Australia at Mandurah, south of Perth.

Rob Kerr, the Lions’ list manager at the time, flew west specifically to watch Lions rookies Niall McKeever and Joel Tippett play for Queensland and came home with a clear-cut “get Zorko” commitment.

Zorko won the Zane Taylor Medal as Queensland’s best player in a fighting six-point loss to WA, collecting 30 possessions to go with eight tackles and four goals, including three goals in a barnstorming final quarter that almost got the visitors over the line.

There was a sticking point to the Kerr plan. Zorko, a born-and-bred Gold Coaster who played with Broadbeach in the State League competition, was zoned to the Gold Coast Suns under the AFL’s expansion guidelines.

So, Kerr initiated a complicated trade that effectively saw the Broadbeach captain and 2008-09-10-11 B&F winner join the Lions in exchange for selection #34 in the 2011 AFL National Draft.

It was a defining moment in the life of the one-time bricklayer, whose father had moved from Yugoslavia to Melbourne before settling on the Gold Coast.

Zorko, who attended Benowa State High School and played his junior football at Surfers Paradise, had captained the 2007 Queensland U18 side coached by ex-St Kilda and Brisbane Bears rover Danny Craven.

State teammates Brendan Whitecross, Sam Reid and Jake Spencer, who are still playing in the AFL with Hawthorn, GWS and Melbourne respectively, were drafted in 2007 along with Joey Daye, Rhys Magin, James Mulligan and Adam Spackman, who had short stints with Gold Coast, Essendon, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane. But Zorko missed out.

The football grapevine said Zorko, at 175cm, was too small even though he was only 2cm shorter than North Melbourne’s AFL games record-holder Brent Harvey. And 2kg heavier.

But it took a standout representative performance at a ground which has never hosted an AFL match – and never will – for Zorko to earn his chance.

He arrived at the Lions for the start of the 2012 pre-season with osteitis pubis, and after an extended spell in rehabilitation missed the first six games of his first season.

But after his debut at age 23 in Round 7 against Collingwood at the Gabba he never looked back.

He played 59 consecutive games, including a full season in 2013, before missing the final match of the 2014 season for personal reasons. His father was seriously ill.

He played every game in 2015, and has missed just two in 2016 – Round 1 through suspension and Round 14 due to the birth of his first child.

The stats

The pocket-sized dynamo has polled consistently well in the Merrett-Murray Medal. He finished equal 7th in 2012 despite missing the first six games, equal 4th in 2013 and was runner-up in 2014 before sharing the Lions’ No.1 individual award with Dayne Beams, Stefan Martin and Mitch Robinson in 2015.

So well has he played this year that he’s a hot favourite to go back-to-back and join Michael Voss (5), Simon Black (3), Jonathan Brown (3), Michael McLean (2), John Gastev (2), Jason Akermanis (2), Joel Patful (2) and Tom Rockliff (2) as multiple B&F winners in the Brisbane Football Club’s 30-year history.

Zorko will complete a century double on Sunday, having kicked his 100th career goal in his 99th game last weekend.

Overall he’s averaged 20.6 possessions, with 11 games of 30 possessions or more.

He kicked a career-best four goals against Collingwood at the Gabba in Round 8 this year, and has twice had 38 possessions in a game – against Fremantle at the Gabba in 2014 and Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval in 2015.

He’s received 22 Brownlow Medal votes in 2012-15 – behind only Rockliff (48) and Pearce Hanley (24) in the Lions camp – and is expected to top of the Lions vote-count in 2016.

He goes into his milestone game in excellent form, having had 27 possessions, 12 inside 50s, a career-best four goal assists and three goals against Carlton Saturday to earn selection in the AFL Team of the Week.

And with one goal against the Cats on Sunday he’ll add another line to his trivia notoriety. He’ll equal Zaharakis’ record for most AFL goals (101) by a player whose surname starts with Z.

The official match ball used during Round 21 v Carlton at the Gabba when Zorko kicked his 100th AFL goal can be yours! And it's even signed by the man himself. Bid here!

Note: Official AFL records show that three players whose surname started with “Z” have played for the extended Brisbane/Fitzroy family in addition to Zorko and Zanotti, who played 64 games for the Bears from 1989-92 and 57 games for Fitzroy from 1993-95. Cyril Zimmer played one game for Fitzroy in 1918, Bruno Zorzi played 18 games for Fitzroy from 1957-60, and Noel Zunneberg played 71 games for Fitzroy from 1967-72.

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