The Brisbane Lions defensive stocks are set to be tested in a hurry following the untimely injury to key defender Jack Payne over the weekend.
The 25-year-old suffered a ruptured patella tendon during Saturday’s 11-point home loss to GWS, a setback likely to cause a reshuffle to Brisbane’s backline with Harris Andrews shifting primarily to fullback and Darcy Gardiner recalled from the VFL.
Payne suffered the injury in the first quarter and required a medical cart to leave the ground. Former captain Dayne Zorko was closest to the contest that caused the injury, offering some parting words of advice before realising the severity.
“I was right at his feet, to be honest with you,” Zorko told SENQ Breakfast on Tuesday morning.
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“There was a little bit of a noise, obviously him impacting the ground didn't sound great, but I said, ‘Come on Jack, you'll be right, run it out, jog it off’. That wouldn’t have gone down well.”
Zorko went on to say that once he heard Payne screaming and saw the shock on his face, he and his teammates instantly feared the worst.
“Then he was just screaming, ‘My kneecap, my kneecap!’. So we knew then when we could see there was pain on his face,” Zorko added.
“When it kept going, the pain, we knew it was something a little bit more serious.”
Payne had been in career-best form prior to the setback, playing in all except the Round 7 game against St Kilda this season.
“Jog it off”: Zorko’s ill-timed message to injured Lions teammate | https://t.co/i1fuDNC1MY | #AFL
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The injury will likely rule Payne out for the rest of the year, although the good news is he underwent successful surgery on Monday with no timetable to return.
“He's as tough as they come,” Zorko said.
“It’s really unfortunate and he went under surgery yesterday, so I don’t know how long out he’ll be.”