Lance Franklin says suspending players for punches will stamp such incidents out of the game
LANCE Franklin says if punches result in suspensions for players then they will be stamped out of the game, while the Sydney star is excited to be playing in Indigenous Round and swapping No.23 for No.67.
Sydney
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LANCE Franklin says the jumper punch will quickly be a thing of the past if the AFL stays true to its word and starts suspending players who take a cheap shot at their opponents.
A procession of players have been fined for jumper punches and blows to the stomach in recent seasons. It’s clearly getting under the skin of AFL operations boss Simon Lethlean, who this week said bans would be dished out for future infractions.
Franklin has been involved in plenty of exchanges over the years and in recent weeks with Carlton’s Alex Silvagni, Brisbane’s Nick Robertson and North Melbourne’s Robbie Tarrant.
“I think it will (get stamped out),” Franklin said.
“As players you know the rules and if they set that I’m pretty sure they’ll stick to it. They make the rules, the AFL, so we’ll have to move forward with it otherwise you’ll miss games and that’s not what you want.
“If you are going to miss games it will be stamped out of the game straight away.”
Buddy will wear the number 67 when he meets his former team Hawthorn in Friday night’s Indigenous Round fixture at the SCG.
The number signifies the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum which voted to include aboriginals in the census and allow the Commonwealth to create laws for indigenous Australians.
Franklin is fired up about the Sir Doug Nichols Indigenous Round and was honoured to pose for a the striking back page photograph with the indigenous flag.
“The flag is something that I’m very proud of as it represents my people,” Franklin said.
“We’re obviously the first people on this land so it’s a significant flag not only for me but for all of Australia.”
Franklin and the in-form Swans will be looking to curtail a red-hot Tom Mitchell.
The gun forward said Sydney will be putting plenty of time and attention on the former Swan who picked up a massive 50 possessions against Collingwood last week.
“There’s no doubt we’ll be spending some time on Tom and try to curtail his influence around the contest,” Franklin said.
“He’s been unbelievable. He’s never had an issue finding the ball. To get 50 touches is a super effort and we look forward to playing him.
“He was a super player here and he’s taken that form to the Hawks but he’s not coming back is he. But they have so many other dangerous players and we have to be on our game.”
Franklin will also be up against his great mate Jarryd Roughead for the first time since the Hawthorn star took a year out of the game for cancer treatment.
“It’s great to have Roughie back,” Franklin said.
“Everyone in football loves seeing him out there playing footy which is what he loves to do. It will be nice to run out and see him on Friday but at the end of the day we’ve got a game of football we want to win. I’ll shake his hand at the end of the game.”
Franklin also put the code wars aside to express his sympathy for NRL star Greg Inglis who last week checked himself into a mental health clinic.
The Swans ace took time away from the game on the eve of the 2015 finals to deal with mental health issues himself before returning to action at the start of the following season.
“It was very sad to hear the news about Greg,” Franklin said.
“Hopefully he gets better and he’s got that support network around him that will help him through this tough time.”
Originally published as Lance Franklin says suspending players for punches will stamp such incidents out of the game
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