Lance Franklin produces an amazing set of statistics to start the AFL season

SYDNEY superstar Lance Franklin has put together a series of numbers on the stats sheet that is set to send shockwaves through the mathematical world.

Sydney's Lance Franklin is congratulated on his goal by Luke Ben McGlynn during AFL match Sydney Swans v GWS Giants at SCG. Picture. Phil Hillyard

BUDDY Franklin has achieved a lot in football but even for him this is uncharted waters.

The Sydney superstar has put together a series of numbers on the stats sheet that is set to send shockwaves through the mathematical world.

In the season opener against Collingwood Buddy collected 18 possessions, kicked four goals and had five inside 50s.

Against Carlton in Round 2, he had 18 possessions, four goals and five inside 50s.

Drum roll please . . . . In Round 3 against the Giants Buddy had 18 possessions, four goals and wait for it . . . five inside 50s.

This extraordinary anomaly will get those law of probability professors into a lather over the odds of Buddy doing it again on Saturday night against Adelaide.

EDDIE WINS AGAIN

CHALK down another behind-the-scenes victory for Eddie McGuire.

The much hyped rich tax which was part of the AFL’s great equalisation agenda that it dreamed up after a junket to the US back in 2013 is expected to quietly disappear before next year.

It’s introduction last year angered Eddie and his rich mates from Hawthorn and West Coast who rallied hard against it and even managed to have it limited to a maximum of $500,000 a year.

That in turn angered the middle-class clubs – the likes of Geelong and Carlton – who were ordered to pay up to $400,000 despite earning far less revenue than the big boys.

While clubs are being told reductions in distributions to the financial powerhouses will amount to the same thing as a tax, some see it as AFL not having the bottle to fully prosecute the equalisation agenda .

Former Hawthorn president Andrew Newbold – who now sits on the AFL Commission – was no fan of the revenue tax.

And some in club-land are wondering what his appointment to the commission will mean to the league’s equalisation plans.

As for Ed, it’s just another tick to go with his genius pre-emptive strike on the AFL in regards to the women’s football league.

Last week the Pies appointed a football operations manager for its women’s team even though a decision on what clubs get a licence is still months away.

THE TWEET

As a diehard @Lakers fan, thank you @kobebryant for all the memories and of course the 5 titles! pic.twitter.com/XsNb8Giy7Q

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) 12 April 2016

THE WHISPER

WATCH for an old-fashioned state-of-origin game, Victoria Country v WA Country, to be put up as a curtain-raiser before next year’s Essendon-Geelong Country game.