Alastair Clarkson’s relationship breakdown with Lance Franklin led to the star leaving Hawthorn
Lance Franklin’s best mates and former teammates Jordan Lewis and Jarryd Roughead say the superstar wanted to stay at Hawthorn and be a one-club player. So why did he leave? They lift the lid on his emotional exit.
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Coaching legend Alastair Clarkson struggled with Lance Franklin’s Dennis Rodman-like flamboyance which ultimately led to him leaving Hawthorn.
Two of Buddy’s premiership teammates, Jordan Lewis and Jarryd Roughead, have revealed their good friend had wanted to remain a one-club player but the breakdown of his relationship with Clarkson saw him leave to Sydney after the 2013 premiership win.
“I thought his relationship with Clarko started to wear thin,” Lewis said on part-two of Fox Footy’s ‘The Golden Years’ podcast. “Clarko struggled at times to deal with big personalities. He liked people to be under the radar I suppose.
“Buddy would sometimes rock up to the club with outlandish hair styles and he was a really sort of flamboyant. He was probably like Dennis Rodman, maybe not to that extent.
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“Bud played his best football when he was happy and being himself. But sometimes Clarko didn’t necessarily agree with what he was doing.
“It came to the point where it was little things where Clarko would try to control him. Bud wanted to stay at Hawthorn. He wanted to stay a one-club player and play his career out with Roughie and I.
“Unfortunately that relationship was too hard.”
Roughead also explained how Clarkson caught him by surprise when he suggested at the end of 2018 that his playing days might be numbered.
It was a similar scenario to what had played out for Lewis and Sam Mitchell who were both forced to end their playing careers at other clubs after some prompting from Clarkson.
“I had a year to go as well and he asked, ‘What would you like to do?’,” Roughead said. “I sat there and was like, ‘Wow, hold on. Why are you doing this to me?’ I was still captain at the time.
“When you walk into it, you are blindsided a bit. I considered all options but in the end I was turning 32. And then going to a club after everything I’d been through. I didn’t feel like I could start again.
“I wanted to finish my year at Hawthorn and try and prove them wrong, even though the writing was on the wall. My form wasn’t up to it. Looking back, I don’t think I would have left.”
Roughead ended up being dropped to the VFL in Round 8 of the 2019 season and only made two more senior appearances, including a farewell game in Round 22 where he kicked six goals against the Gold Coast.
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