Lance Franklin’s future: Do Sydney Swans still need Buddy?

He is one of the best players the modern era has seen but the reality is that this may be Buddy’s last hurrah Scott Gullan writes.

It might be a stretch to say it’s the main topic of conversation among the latte set in Bondi but what’s happening with Buddy is a question which is back on the agenda.

The possibility that Saturday’s preliminary final against Collingwood could be the last time the football world gets to see Lance Franklin, one of the game’s greatest forwards, is alarming for many.

Most people’s reaction to that is surely not.

But then vision of him being soundly beaten by Steven May in the qualifying final flashes into the mind and there’s that seed of doubt again.

And of course, there is the contract dispute with Sydney.

Buddy completely blindsided the Swans last month by postponing negotiations until the end of the season because he was dirty about what they were offering him to play next year, which would be his 18th season at the age of 36.

As a result there have been plenty of wild rumours thrown up including a move to Queensland to be closer to his wife Jesinta’s family which brought Brisbane into the conversation.

Is this the last we'll see of Buddy?

The fact the issue with the money is about not much more than $100,000 has the Swans optimistic that some middle ground can be found. They would love him to play on – preferably on a contract of around $550,000 – but then there are those who look at the facts and figures and say life would go on as a contender if he was elsewhere.

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They have a promising young forward in Logan McDonald who some say is ready for more of the limelight while Sam Reid has once again turned it on in a contract year – he goes missing for seasons until it’s time for a new deal – so there is cover there.

As one rival assistant coach pointed out, the Swans are learning to not be as Buddy-conscious with great success.

“There is a school of thought that at times if he’s not there they do actually perform better,” he said.

“They get a more even spread of goal kickers, (Isaac) Heeney seems to play better and (Will) Hayward always plays better when Bud doesn’t play.

“That’s why they probably figured they can offer him lower money because then if he’s not prepared to take it they don’t see it as a massive loss.”

Livewire Will Hayward tends to play better without Buddy. Picture: Getty Images

Over the past two seasons, the Swans have won six of seven games when Buddy hasn’t played.

On the flip side the four-time Coleman medallist is one of only nine players to kick 50 goals this season.

And of course, who could forget back in round 2 when he became just the sixth player in VFL/AFL history to kick 1000 goals.

He’s not exactly limping to the line and according to one former teammate, a recent conversation convinced him that we hadn’t seen the last of Buddy.

“My gut feel is that he will play on,” he said.

“Talking to him, one thing you look at is, ‘How are you feeling?’ and he said, ‘Mate, I’m feeling great. I’m feeling really good’.

“Sometimes you can’t see that so I think in his own mind he’s not ready to say goodbye.”

Asked if he thought Buddy could play for a third club, he replied: “The ideal club would be Melbourne, they should go, this is the player we are screaming out for although their slow ball movement wouldn’t suit him. Collingwood, who gets the ball down quickly, now that would really suit him.”

So if the body is feeling good, what is the level of angst about the money and is it enough to see him jump ship?

“He doesn’t understand (the money), he just sees what he can bring to the game from a marketing point of view,” another ex-teammate said.

It might be a question of money v success for Buddy. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

“He still sees himself as the marquee person which is understandable but at some stage if you want to win a flag you have to say, ‘All right I’ve had my time I’ve been paid well for a long period of time, these kids are coming through who need to be signed’.

“They deserve the money now and he should be thinking, ‘I am just playing for the opportunity to play in a premiership’, that’s how he should be looking at it but he doesn’t necessarily see it that well.

“Don’t get me wrong he’s a team-orientated person but with stuff like this he sees it differently. For example, with the 1000th goal, you can imagine how much money that would have generated for the footy club, well, he would be like, ‘Where’s my piece of that?’.”

What they all agree on is that should Sydney get through to the grand final and are successful, the odds of Buddy pulling the pin shorten dramatically.

But first there is a red-hot Collingwood to contend with and in a nice piece of synergy the last time Sydney played in a preliminary final at the SCG it was their superstar forward who was the hero.

Tony Lockett’s famous point after the siren to sink Essendon in 1996 is one of the great moments in AFL history.

Many Bloods diehards are thinking lightning could strike twice with their current day superstar forward being the hero. It’s certainly a narrative not foreign to the broad shoulders of Buddy Franklin.

Originally published as Lance Franklin’s future: Do Sydney Swans still need Buddy?