Brisbane captain Dayne Zorko has broken his silence over an on-field sledge directed at Melbourne’s Harrison Petty.
Zorko’s alleged offensive comments regarding a member of Petty’s family left the Demons defender visibly upset during last Friday night’s match at the Gabba.
The Lions veteran joined SEN’s The Run Home to apologise to Petty and his family and express his remorse for his actions.
“I apologised to Harrison on the final siren and obviously that apology still stands,” Zorko said.
“My remorse still stands. If I could take it back, there’s no doubt I would.
“I just wanted to get across that it was an intense game. From the first bounce there was toing and froing from both sides of the fence. Players across the field stepped up to the line all game, and I acknowledge that I certainly crossed that.
“I just reckon it’s really important that Lions fans and fans in general understand that it wasn’t just an unprovoked sledge, and it wasn’t set in isolation. As I said, it was toing and froing for the majority of the game and remorsefully I accept that I’ve overstepped the mark.
“I thought it was really important that I came out and said something and that people understood that.
“Through the heat of battle words are said and for me, in this case, I overstepped the mark.
“Moving forward I need to learn from this and potentially the whole industry can learn from this and understand sledging can have serious effects on people and we need to be extremely careful in the way we do it.”
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Zorko continued: “Moving forward I just need to be better, there’s no doubt about that. Use this as an educational piece for me.
“The last few days hasn’t been easy for myself nor my family, I’m really sorry for them as well, but obviously understanding that on the other side of the fence it would’ve been just as hard for Harrison Petty and his family.
“So I apologise to them for that as well.”
The Lions skipper will be available for his side’s Elimination Final clash against Richmond at the Gabba next Thursday night.