Brisbane Lions star Dayne Zorko has defended his incident that saw him grab the glasses of Collingwood forward Mason Cox during the preliminary final on Saturday.
The Lions ended up winning the game by 29 points against the Magpies, but Zorko was fined $5,000 ($3,125 with an early guilty plea) after grabbing Cox's glasses during a scuffle.
Zorko defended the incident, claiming he was just trying to defend himself against Cox, who wears the glasses to protect issues he has had with his eyes.
“If a seven-foot guy comes running at you in the streets, what are you going to do?,” Zorko said on SENQ Breakfast.
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“It doesn’t really make sense to me that someone can initiate it then you’re just standing up for yourself and protecting yourself.
“Should I have grabbed his glasses? Probably not.
“However, it is what it is. I mean, you can see the AFL are having such a great year with all this stuff that a $5,000 fine seems suitable. Yeah, it is what it is.
“I don’t really care, I get to play in a Grand Final this week.”
The grabbing of the glasses was a contentious issue, with some saying Zorko shouldn't have grabbed his glasses, while others said Cox shouldn't have started the scuffle.
Zorko also spoke about injured Lion Lachie Neale, who is in a race against time to be fit for the grand final on Saturday against Geelong.
“I know the medical staff didn’t give him much of a chance, but he’s looked after himself really well over the last few weeks," Zorko said.
“We always knew that if we got to this week that it would be a headline whether or not he’d be fit. He’ll have to do some pretty hard training this week, I would imagine, to get the final tick of approval.
“We’d love to have him out there playing, but if he isn’t, then so be it. We’ve seen this year our younger players have stepped up and done a terrific job for us."