Brisbane Lions veteran Dayne Zorko has had a brief but heated exchange with coach Chris Fagan on the bench after a costly series of events in Thursday night’s blockbuster with Collingwood.

Zorko gave away a free kick for dissent and soon after was at fault for a Magpies goal that extended their lead to 21 points.

Rotated off the field immediately, the 36-year-old exchanged words with Fagan and clearly disagreed with the premiership coach’s point of view.

Zorko shook his head as he walked away while Fagan was still talking.

“They have words. Not happy. Have a look at the Lachie Neale when he (Zorko) walks away,” Brian Taylor said on Channel 7.

Kane Cornes said he was unsure exactly what Zorko could be saying back.

“(Fagan) is well within his right to say ‘you’ve just cost us a goal, you’ve also given away an undisciplined free kick’,” the Port Adelaide premiership player said.

“Dayne Zorko shouldn’t be arguing back there.”

The incident unfolded with comeback kings Brisbane, who have won four games after trailing at half-time so far this season, struggling to fight back against Collingwood.

“I just talked to him about it. He was a bit hot under the collar at the time,” Fagan said in his post-match press conference.

“I just said ‘mate you better calm down, just calm down’. It wasn’t anything more than that. I don’t know whether it looked liked it was anything more than that but it certainly wasn’t.

“That’s all I basically said to him. Calm down, mate.”

Asked if Zorko’s mistakes proved to be critical in the game, Fagan said: “It probably was, but I’m not going to say that’s why we lost.”

Zorko had later been shown leaning back on the bench with his arms behind his head.

“That’s an unhappy Zorko,” Taylor noted.

Hamish McLachlan said: “He does look aggrieved, doesn’t he?”

Zorko’s former Lions teammate Luke Hodge said he was paying the price for Fagan’s decision to coach from the bench.

“Initially he was fired up, looked like he went back at the coach,” Hodge said.

“But I think when you sit down and take a breath and realise that the two mistakes from your errors, one was an ill-disciplined free kick. Sometimes that’s the bad thing about having a coach on the bench who goes straight to you.”

Taylor reiterated Zorko’s body language was “not one of acceptance”.

“It looks like he is regretting what he did — the free kick plus the turnover,” Hodge replied.

“And also, probably biting back at the coach, he’ll sit back going those three actions probably weren’t a good move.

“It’s a long game of football, though. He’ll get back on and forget about it.”

Boundary rider Mitch Cleary reported Zorko, in a podcast released only this week, reflected on handing over the Brisbane captaincy at the end of 2022 and realising he needed to get better at talking to umpires.

“Now it’s happened again,” Cleary said.

Zorko’s defensive efforts were again highlighted when the Pies kicked out to a 42-point lead late in the third term.

“Zorko switched off. He’s having a poor quarter, unfortunately, with the footy, with the coach and also with his opponent,” Cornes said.