WHEN Brisbane Lions full-back Daniel Merrett marked deep in defence against Geelong there were 22 seconds of the game remaining.
Alongside him was Dayne Zorko.
The 24-year-old midfielder had no idea how much time remained but he knew not much was left and his team was a point behind on the scoreboard.
So Zorko yelled at Merrett to play on then tracked back with the flight of the ball.
Initially he was hoping to get back into the forward line to "turn up if the ball ended up coming to ground."
But when Elliot Yeo squeezed a left-footer (having spent time practising his non-preferred all year in case it was needed) to one of the all-time great left footers Simon Black, Zorko began to pick up the pace.
"I did not know what was going to happen but I was praying I got linked up somewhere," Zorko said.
Last year's best and fairest winner Joel Patfull marked, turned and attempted an inboard kick he rarely attempts.
For Patfull to make that decision was the equivalent of former English cricketer Chris Tavare choosing to dance down the pitch and trying to hit Dennis Lillee back over his head.
But it worked when he miraculously found his teammate Jed Adcock in between three Geelong players.
Adcock did not have time to stand up, handballing to Zorko who took the ball on the run with three seconds to go.
"[I] saw Jed take the mark and looked around and no one was near me so I just called for it," Zorko said.
Those words unintentionally damn the Cats' final effort.
With ball in hand and no time remaining you would imagine Zorko had no decision to make. But he made several.
He could see players running into space inside 50 to his right and Ashley McGrath charging towards him.
He had also noticed that McGrath's opponent Josh Hunt had dropped off him slightly. There was not enough time to calculate whether or not McGrath would kick it if he marked it, but when a final piece of information raced through his head it clinched his decision.
"Ash [McGrath] was the direct line to goal and probably the easier kick," Zorko said. "I wasn't sure how far Ash was actually out from goal but I knew he was one of our longer kicks."
It was more adrenaline than will that had driven Zorko on. In reality, he had left the three-quarter time huddle surprised at how good he was feeling.
By the end of the game, nothing stopped him. "It's a wonderful thing momentum," Zorko said. "You find energy and your legs seems to just run out of nowhere. You wish you could play with that every week."
In that frenetic last quarter, he had seven kicks, kicked a goal and managed four inside 50s.
As it turned out, McGrath was close enough. A mere 37.9 seconds elapsed between the moment McGrath marked and when he kicked the ball on its way.
It sailed through.
From that moment on, the 200-gamer would, justifiably, be the hero.
"[I'm] just glad Ash was on the end of it kicking for goal and not me," Zorko said.
