Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Football
Netball
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Full Noise by SN
"Unreal": Zorko's glowing review of new-look Blues
Jaiden Sciberras • February 24th, 2026 4:03 pm
Two-time Premiership Lion and All-Australian half back Dayne Zorko has given a glowing review of Carlton's new-look front half.
Competing in a pre-season hit out in Brisbane, Carlton debuted a range of fresh faces, with the likes of Will Hayward, Ben Ainsworth and draftee Talor Byrne adding nine goals in a winning performance to kick off their 2026 campaign.
Playing down back, Zorko was the first of the competition’s defenders to face the Blues’ fresh forward mix, with nothing but positives regarding the club’s attacking unit.
“It was nice to get a bit of a blowout against Carlton,” Zorko told SENQ Breakfast.
“They looked super fit; they looked unreal the other night.
“Playing up against them, we had our challenges with the way they moved the ball and the way they wanted to play. It just shapes as a really exciting year.”
With the addition of several fresh faces, the Lions veteran was extremely impressed by the fluidity of the squad in attack, particularly noting Carlton’s half-forwards as standouts.
“Physically, they were quite strong, they were covering the ground really well,” he said.
“I was really impressed with their half-forwards. Obviously, I play on them a majority of the time and I was really impressed with the way they worked contest to contest.
“Every year, teams look up to the two or three around the top and see what they did. Obviously, Carlton have identified something that, whether it was us, Geelong, or maybe the Giants, a team where they can improve their list.
“I thought their half-forwards the other night worked extremely hard and had some great polish around the goals as well.
“Hopefully for Carlton fans, they’re in for a really big year.”
Beyond the forward unit as a whole, Zorko noted a range of individuals that added to the club’s unpredictability entering 50.
“I thought they worked really well,” he said.
“I guess when you have Charlie Curnow in your side, you become a bit Charlie Curnow centric. I think Vossy got on SEN in Victoria and said that that’s how he felt it was playing out.
“Now they’ve got different avenues to goal. Harry McKay is still down there; they’ve got a young kid named (Ashton) Moir who has a really great jump and leap.
“Then their small forwards – they brought in Will Hayward, Ben Ainsworth who had a really big impact the other night, and then they’ve got rotating midfielders that can go through those roles; Sam Walsh played there, young Jagga Smith played down there as well.
“Really exciting for Carlton. The Charlie Curnow era at Carlton is finished, but they look like they’ve got a lot more avenues to goal.”
In placing the Blues ahead of next season, Zorko stated that clubs experiencing several injuries in years’ past are difficult to judge, however, there is no ceiling to how far the club can progress.
“The opening rounds are always telling,” he said.
“It’s hard to put a ceiling on these teams that have had troublesome injuries the year before, and Carlton was certainly one of those teams that had a lot of injuries to key personnel.
“They are going to get a lot of those players back. The ceiling is unlimited for all the teams that had a lot of injuries.”
Carlton take on Geelong in the AAMI Community Series opener on Wednesday afternoon, while the Lions host the Suns on Thursday.
Listen to the full interview below:
