Annette Sharp: Are Jesinta and Buddy Franklin about to open a local Roc Nation?

Speculation is mounting that Jesinta and Lance Franklin could be set to open a local version of rapper-turned-entrepreneur Jay-Z’s sports management agency Roc Nation, writes Annette Sharp.

Just why model and mother-of-two Jesinta Franklin might be in need of AFL player’s agent accreditation status is anyone’s guess, but there is mounting conjecture Franklin and her husband, Swans superstar Buddy, are planning to follow in US rapper-turned-entrepreneur Jay- Z’s footsteps and open their own local version of Z’s mega sports management agency Roc Nation.

Jesinta has long harboured dreams of being more than a model, more than second runner-up in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant, more than an augmented Wonderbra spokeswoman.

For a time, having been mentored by her friend Karl Stefanovic and appointed to a plum spot as commentator on the Today show’s regular Mixed Grill segment, the model and Getaway presenter set out to become the next spokeswoman for younger women on a broad range of issues.

These included what a woman might like to wear to the Academy Awards, and the significance of Australia Day — or Invasion Day, depending on which side of the fence you sit.

“I actually do deserve a spot on TV,” the then 24-year-old told The Daily Telegraph in 2015. “I feel like I do have things of substance to say, not just the ability to talk about fashion and beauty.”

Will Jesinta Franklin follow in Jay-Z’s footsteps and open a local version of Z’s mega sports management agency Roc Nation? Picture: Gaye Gerard

After becoming engaged to Indigenous AFL superstar Franklin, Jesinta made this point with greater resonance when she championed Swans’ star Adam Goodes after he was booed while playing for the Swans in 2015.

“Look, booing is a public form of bullying and Adam has come out and said it was affecting him so everyone needs to stop,” she said.

Buddy and Jesinta Franklin may have plans to move out of Sydney. Picture: Adam Head

Some believe it is Indigenous players like Goodes that Franklin will look to represent if she opens her own player management shop in the future.

Having at one point reportedly flirted with the idea of joining Miranda Kerr’s talent management firm IMG, whose sports clients also include Cody Simpson, Jelena Dokic, Cameron McEvoy, Laura Enever and Liz Cambage, Franklin would be aware of how fickle sports management firms can be — and how great the profit margin is between top agents.

Despite top AFL agent Liam Pickering securing Franklin his record-setting $10 million nine-year Swans deal in 2013 (the same year Franklin met the model Jesinta Campbell), just months later, in 2014, the footballer would surprisingly split with Pickering.

Surprising everyone, Franklin moved onto the books at Sharon Finnigan Management, whose business has been entangled with Stefanovic’s own — she launched in 2007 with her foundation client, Stefanovic, on her books.

Jesinta was also represented by Finnigan at the time. Then in 2016 the pair moved into fashion publicist (and sometime Miranda Kerr spokeswoman) Annie Kelly’s fold.

An observer watching Franklin’s movements might have been forgiven for thinking the AFL star had secret designs on a modelling career.

The photogenic pair have phenomenal earning power. Picture: Getty Images

Kelly last year confirmed she was no longer representing Buddy and it was soon after revealed that Jesinta, too, had largely cut ties with Kelly.

Increasingly, Franklin’s Buddy Promotions has been managed by former schoolteacher Adam Finch, who in November last year also became Jesinta’s full-time manager.

A desire to maximise the couple’s joint earning power looks to have motivated the couple’s decision to move from one management shop to the next in recent years, yet it would take the finalisation of Franklin’s Swans contract, which ends this season, for Jesinta to declare her own interest in talent management.

The boys’ club that won’t be opening any doors for Franklin

The competition among player managers in elite sports, including AFL, is fierce and Jesinta Franklin, should she become her husband’s agent, will find herself pitched into a tense battle for sponsorship dollars with some seriously hard-nosed blokes.

Top AFL player agents include Melbourne’s Paul Connors, with 18 years of sports management experience, West Australian agent Colin Young, with two decades of experience, Alex McDonald of Hemisphere Management, with a quarter of a century’s experience, and former Big Brother contestant Ben Williams, who runs agency Player’s Ink with his wife Jade Robran.

Player agents Colin Young …

… and Ralph Carr. Pictures: Michael Klein

Between them, and an assortment of other AFL agents from broad churches, including Tina Arena’s former agent Ralph Carr (although no longer the controversial Ricky Nixon), they represent some of the brightest current and future stars in the game.

They also represent a number of ex-football stars, and this, say those in the know, is one of the toughest transitions for a player manager to preside over.

Without exception, all of these agents possess two things necessary to succeed as player agents — though neither of these things happens to be Lance “Buddy” Franklin.

The first is a passion for the sport of AFL.

The second is a well-established network of relationships with AFL powerbrokers, something that is essential for success.

Lucky rabbit's foot or no, Jesinta Franklin has a long road to travel and much to learn.

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