Lance Franklin says he can still be a forward force in final two years of Sydney mega deal
Lance Franklin has played just one AFL match in the past 427 days and is facing suggestions the Swans put him on ice for this season. But the man himself has other plans.
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Lance Franklin is adamant he is not a shadow of his former self and is ready to finish his nine-year Sydney sojourn in style.
One of the greats of the modern era has played just one AFL match in 427 days and still has two more seasons after this one to run on his marathon $10 million deal.
Franklin is 33 years of age but believes his frustrating run of injuries does not mean his body has given up on him and has declared he can finish his remarkable career as a major force.
There is still no guarantee Franklin will play a single game this year, but the AFL’s ultimate superstar says his best days are not behind him.
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Without him, the Swans have experienced two rare years at the bottom of the table, but they may be better for it, with the likes of Tom Papley, James Rowbottom and Ollie Florent now coming to the fore.
Just 56 good kicks away from eclipsing the magic 1000-goal milestone, Franklin is revelling in the prospect of returning to complement a talented young outfit ready to blossom.
“The last couple of years have been extremely frustrating with injuries, but I’ve been working really hard to get back to playing and I am confident I can get back to my best,” Franklin told News Corp.
“I’m really excited about the group we have got coming through. Having such a young group brings so much energy and excitement to the club and I am looking forward to seeing what we can achieve over the years.”
Swans coach John Longmire said earlier this week that the aim was to play Franklin this season, even if it is only for a week or two.
Some have suggested the club should just put their prized asset on ice for the rest of the year now that a horror hamstring injury has cruelled his prospects of putting a clump of matches together.
But at his age Franklin doesn’t want to run the risk of being out of the arena for too long, and muscle memory is important even for a 300-game veteran.
According to Franklin, he is nearing a return having participated in a number of main training sessions in Perth and is confident he will take the field again in the coming weeks.
“I’ve been working hard on my recovery and have been able to train in a few sessions with the boys,” said Franklin.
“I’m building my fitness and hope to be back as soon as possible.”
Another one of the Swans’ experienced heads Luke Parker can also feel something special brewing again in Sydney after two seasons in the doldrums.
Sydney have still managed some stirring wins in 2020 despite a shocking injury toll and the fact they’ve cycled through more players on their list than any team in the competition.
At the start of the year there were fears Franklin’s mega contract might be starting to weigh on Sydney’s salary cap, but now there is hope he will be returning as the icing on top of a team perhaps on the verge of being ready to challenge for finals again in 2021.
“I’m trying to stay young with the boys,” said Parker.
“We’ve got an exciting young group coming through and playing with James Rowbottom and Ollie Florent, they just keep taking their games to another level each week and they’ve really matured this year.
“The good thing is they’ve added a new boost of energy for our group and hopefully with the experience of Josh (Kennedy) and myself in the midfield we can continue to help them grow as players.”
YOUNG BLOODS LAYING PLATFORM FOR SUCCESS
The winds of a change have begun to blow through the Sydney Swans in a way chairman Andrew Pridham hasn’t seen for more than a decade.
Sydney’s last-start triumph over GWS – a stunning snapshot into what the Swans are capable of in the years to come – has raised hopes the Baby Bloods might be on the verge of another special era.
John Longmire’s side had started to look slow over the last couple of seasons, but the elixir of youth has suddenly given the Swans an electric feel once again.
James Rowbottom, Ollie Florent, Jordan Dawson, Lewis Melican, combined with a couple of impressive debutants in Zac Foot and Sam Wicks, have tongues wagging, especially when combined with old heads like Luke Parker, Dane Rampe and Callum Mills, who really aren’t old at all.
Pridham has sat on the Swans board since 2002 and says the current crop has a 2009 kind of feel about it – a surge in momentum at the Swans which back then led to the famous 2012 premiership.
“You can feel the ebbs and flows. We’ve obviously got really good young talent coming through and you can just feel it seems a bit like then when Kieren Jack was early in his career,” said Pridham.
“By 2011, Luke Parker was coming through. It feels like that again.”
The young Swans have convinced star defender Mills that the club has the potential to become real premiership contenders again.
But Mills knows that Rome wasn’t built in a day and inconsistency is part of young teams.
Nevertheless, the defender was impressed with the Swans’ anklebiters after their 41-point victory over GWS on Thursday night.
“James Rowbottom was awesome, Will Hayward had a great role in stopping (Nick) Haynes play that drop-off role,” Mills said.
“(Zac Foot) was great, he’s worked really hard on his game the last two years, to see him get rewarded with a game is awesome, even the unselfish thing to do when he got his first set shot was to handball it off to (Jordan) Dawson.
“But there were 23 contributors, that was the best part.”
The injury-ravaged Swans have 17 players on their list aged 21 or younger. Sydney has blooded six debutants this season and has been younger and less experienced than its opponent in 10 of 11 games this season.
But Mills believes there are still plenty of positives to take out of 2020.
“We’ve shown that we can play the football that we want to, so it’s just a matter of doing that consistently now, that’s what the good teams do and that’s what we’re striving for,” Mills said.
“The most important thing is that we’re taking learning out of each game, that’s the best way to fast track it, as long as we’re winning from both wins and losses.
“That’ll be our best opportunity to head to finals as fast as we can, that’s the goal, however long it take will be up to the players.”
Mills said the Swans are relishing the rare nine-day break ahead of next week’s clash against Fremantle.
“This will probably be our longest break for a while, after reviewing, to be able to switch off for a couple of days and just enjoy each other‘s company,” Mills said.
“It can be (hard to switch off) because we’re surrounded by it 24-7, but the club’s made a real strong emphasis of switching on and off.”
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Originally published as Lance Franklin says he can still be a forward force in final two years of Sydney mega deal