Dayne Zorko has declared himself ready to return from a calf injury to face Geelong on Thursday night but has joked that he may not be an automatic starter given the side’s recent form in his absence.

Prior to this season the Lions had never won without Zorko in the side since his debut in 2012. Now they have knocked over West Coast in round three and ladder leaders Port Adelaide on Saturday night.

It is a moot point with Cam Ellis-Yolmen likely to miss a couple of games with a calf injury, creating an opening. 

But his suggestion that positions in the Lions’ side have never been more hotly contested rings true.

“If a spot becomes available, the boys are going pretty well at the moment, hopefully I can slide back in,” Zorko said. 

The skipper said he felt for Ellis-Yolmen who had won plenty of admirers with his contested ball work since forcing his way into the side. 

The former Crow is riding a wave of popularity among his teammates after putting himself through a gut busting fitness routine during the Covid 19 layoff that saw him return to the club in career best shape. 

“I’m really disappointed for Cam. He’s point in a lot of work, not only in the pre-season but especially the COVID period, he did a power of work on his fitness and getting himself to a level that he was really happy with,” Zorko said.

“I thought the games that he’s played since the return have been fantastic and for him to be struck down by injury ... hopefully it’s not too long. He’s a really important player for us.”

Zorko has also used the time off to work on his fitness. The lingering Achilles soreness that was compounded by the calf strain robbed him of the chance to do much conditioning work over the past month or two and he felt the block of work he has completed in the past 10 days has been a major benefit. 

“It was actually really nice to get a good conditioning block under my belt. I haven’t really been able to do that for six to eight weeks now,” he said.

“To be able to get through Saturday morning’s session the way I did, and to pull up the way I have, it’s quire reassuring and comforting just mentally for me.”

Many experts are now labelling Brisbane the hottest team in the competition but Zorko said the external noise would not find its way inside the club’s bubble. 

“We can’t control on the outside what everyone wants to talk about. All we can do is rock up, perform to our best ... do our process right and the rest will take care of itself,” he said.

Having won four games straight at the Gabba, the Lions now hit the road for at least two weeks in NSW and Zorko said the side was excited by the opportunity to spend some time together on the road.

“We’ve had a good little spell of games here, so it’ll nice get away and get on the road again,” Zorko said.

“It’s nice, a change of scenery. We haven’t travelled since round one so we do like getting on the road and getting away, and testing ourselves against really good sides.

“We’ve got to focus on Geelong ... we know there’s a big job at hand this week as well.”