AFL Grand Final 2022: Lance Franklin has last laugh on Andrew Demetriou and Gillon McLachlan

The most contentious contract in AFL history has been vindicated with Lance Franklin finally silencing the powerful group of people who questioned the nine-year deal.

Lance Franklin has signed a new one-year deal at Sydney.

This was Lance Franklin’s Mark Williams moment.

In 2004 the Port Adelaide coach stood on the premiership dais and declared: “Allan Scott, you were wrong!” after the club’s sponsor infamously said on national TV that Port would never win a flag with ‘Choco’ as coach.

On Tuesday morning, nine years after Sydney was scorned as irresponsible and reckless for agreeing to the richest contract in AFL history, Franklin fired back.

“There’s been a lot of knockers over the years, hasn’t there?” Franklin said after agreeing to a one-year extension on the back of that monster nine-year deal.

“When I first got here people were knocking that I wouldn’t get there, I wouldn’t make it.

“(They said) I’d play for four or five years and that would be it. So I’ve definitely proved them wrong, haven’t I?”

The long list of knockers was headed by the AFL. Then-chief executive Andrew Demetriou’s flinch reaction was disbelief.

Lance Franklin will finish his career in Sydney.

“I don’t think nine years can be right,” he said.

“I think it’ll be very difficult for him to be playing in 2022.”

Yet Franklin, 35, will be playing on Grand Final day in 2022, and playing on in 2023.

Next year’s contract is understood to be worth close to $600,000, taking his Swans salary to roughly $11 million over 10 glorious seasons.

It’s probably the best $11 million the Swans have ever spent. The game’s biggest name has kept the Swans on the map.

Supporters at the SCG roar to life whenever Franklin is in the vicinity of the ball and the celebration to his 1000th goal this year was beamed around the globe.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else”❤️

Buddy speaking to media at the SCG. pic.twitter.com/LwFQHm69Si

— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) September 19, 2022

In the preceding years to Franklin‘s contract Demetriou’s league forked out around $8 million to code-hopping busts Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau.

“They are a long-term investment and I can see these guys taking quite a while to adjust to our game, it would be a natural thing,” Demetriou said.

Well, they didn’t. Hunt was delisted after 44 games for Gold Coast and Folau played just 13 games for Greater Western Sydney.

In 2014 Hunt was paid $1 million for one game, in which he had two kicks - against Franklin‘s Swans.

Demetriou was far from alone in doubting Franklin.

Gillon McLachlan, who was his understudy at the time, said: “I think this is a risky agreement, but on the other hand administrations and boards run football clubs.

Lance Franklin is king of the kids in Sydney. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“I’ve conceded that I do think it’s a risky agreement.”

Commentator Peter FitzSimons wrote: “HAVE THE SWANS GOT FREAKING ROCKS IN THEIR HEAD?”

The AFL was furious.

Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick phoned then-Swans president Richard Colless with a “torrent of abuse” and Demetriou barrelled then-Swans chief executive Andrew Ireland.

The league’s legal, integrity and compliance department imposed a series of strict conditions on the Swans.

They demanded written guarantees from every Sydney board member and senior management that Franklin must be paid every cent inside the salary cap regardless of whether he finished the contract.

One director who was overseas was chased down to sign a fax. The spleen stemmed from Franklin spurning the Giants’ $7 million offer.

“As the AFL noted, a nine-year contract for a 26 year-old player is an extraordinary risk and one we would never entertain,” Giants chairman Tony Shepherd said at the time.

“To do so would be to risk our list management strategy for the sake of one individual and we were simply not prepared to do that.

“It would have put intolerable pressure on our salary cap and jeopardised the culture we are trying to build at our club.”

Franklin revealed on Tuesday he was a “50-50” chance to retire this season. He denied he ever spoke to Brisbane Lions this season.

“I’ve been playing for 18 years, it’s a long time in the game,” the father-of-two said.

“As the year went on I’ve still got that passion and drive to compete. Until that goes, that’s when I’ll finish up.

“But it hasn’t gone at the moment.”

Kids queued for autographs on the boundary, all overjoyed Franklin had autographed a new contract.

Behind the SCG stands hundreds more penned letters to their favourite players and posted them in the ‘Red and White Mail’ boxes.

In wonky letters they scribbled notes such as, “I love watching you. You are a great AFL player”.

There was plenty of fan mail for Isaac Heeney and some love for Chad Warner.

But Buddy‘s pigeonhole was packed.

Franklin was always confident he would honour his nine-year contract.

In 2013 he joked he was more worried about going bald than going early.

“Hopefully I’m not that grey and not that bald,” Franklin said.

Once again, Lance has had the last laugh.