Billy Frampton’s most publicised moments have taken place in the finals – and there might be another one this weekend

He has gone from being fined in a SANFL final to an AFL decider in the space of 12 months. It’s just another memorable moment in the career of the man known as the ‘Framp-chise’.

Billy Frampton is in the mix to play in the grand final after Dan McStay’s injury. Picture: Getty Images

Finals have been memorable for Billy Frampton, for some quite incredible reasons.

Last year he was fined $750 for flipping the bird towards a spectator in Adelaide’s SANFL qualifying final win over Norwood after taking a mark.

In 2019 he was originally banned for the SANFL grand final when playing for Port Adelaide for striking, but overturned this after one of the more memorable state league hearings in recent history in which he claimed the sun was in his eyes as part of his defence.

And now the three-club, 202cm utility is in Collingwood’s 22 for Saturday’s grand final against Brisbane.

On Tuesday, the 26-year-old impressed at Collingwood’s open training session, clunking some big marks in the Pies ‘A’ team to book his place.

It would be a fitting chapter in a quite remarkable career for the man Power senior coach Ken Hinkley called “Big Show”, while his “Framp-chise” nickname at Adelaide has transferred to Collingwood.

Billy Frampton could be a call up for the grand final following Dan McStay’s injury. Picture: Michael Klein

“Framp-chise stuck at the Crows,” good friend and former teammate at Adelaide Ben Davis told this masthead.

“(We) went along with his gamer tag which is Framp-chise, but it also says a bit about the Bill brand. He is a good personality to have around and he makes your life better.

“So it is a very fitting name for the great man.

“It’s a great story, it is one that is quite funny. Myself and Bill at Adelaide we sort of had the motto “if you don’t laugh you cry”.

“When things aren’t going your way, when selection isn’t going your way, when injuries aren’t going your way and s*** is sort of hitting the fan a bit you just say “oh well if you don’t laugh you cry” and you sort of laugh it off.

“We took the p*** out of it but it has sort of been a good little resilience thing.

“Every time he has had a bit of a set-back full credit to him he has gone away and he worked and went back to the fundamentals and just played his game well.

“And at Collingwood for example he just gave them no choice but to give him a chance, he went back to the SANFL with Adelaide and played amazing there when he wasn’t getting picked and just controlled what he could control and eventually Collingwood said that is the type of key defender that we are missing.

Frampton wasn’t afraid to give a bit of stick back to the SANFL fans.

“He has created his own luck the great man and it is all thanks to his resilience and his ability to take things as they are, water off a ducks back and get back to playing footy.”

Much like himself, Frampton’s career has been alternative

He went to the Power at pick 84 in the 2014 draft but didn’t play a senior game until 2018.

He managed just three games in five years before he requested a trade to cross-town rivals Adelaide.

A ‘cardinal sin’ in many eyes, Frampton became just the sixth player to cross the divide between the fierce rivals.

It was at the Crows where his versatility was his strength and weakness became clear, unable to lock in a spot as a forward who could pinch-hit in the ruck. He was trialled in defence by coach Matthew Nicks mid-game in 2021 where it looked like had finally found his home at AFL level.

He had a run of six games in a row in early 2022 before he was dropped and didn’t feature for the Crows senior side again. But anyone who saw him in the state league was convinced he was too good for that level.

Davis said that led to fans giving Frampton some stick, who responded by returning serve at those over the fence by flipping them the bird.

“He did it twice, actually Glenelg and Norwood. Norwood was the one at Adelaide Oval which was hilarious,” he said.

“He became a bit of a whipping boy in the SANFL for a little bit.

Ben Davis knew Frampton well from their time together at the Crows. Picture: AAP Images

“I just think it was because he was playing so well and teams hated him and he wears his heart on his sleeve when he plays and he doesn’t hold his thoughts back sometimes.

“So some of the fans caught wind of it and started getting stuck into him and it became a bit of a common thing, we sort of laughed about it and nutted it down to that we knew Bill would give them a reaction.

“So that is why they would get stuck into him and eventually he was taking intercept marks and sticking the bird up at them and saying, ‘well f*** you blokes, if you are going to get stuck into me I’ll get stuck into you,’ so it was pretty good.”

But while he can wear his heart on his sleeve on the footy field, Davis said Frampton was almost a polar opposite off it.

“He is a very down to earth man, he understands things very well. He understands the world and how it works very well and he is able to pick apart things very well big Bill,” he said.

“He is a very funny man. He would be near one of the greatest storytellers I reckon I have come across in my time.

Frampton has been a welcome addition since joining the Magpies in the off-season. Picture: Getty Images

“He can command a room, you could have a room of 30 blokes and he will have them eating out of the palm of his hand. He’ll put some birdseed in the hand and have them eating out of it and have them on the edges of his seat while he tells them these stories which have you belly laughing for days.

“That’s the type of bloke he is. Being someone who is very eccentric and out there myself, to tip the hat for someone who can command a room I would like to think it is a big compliment and I’m happy to hand that to Bill.”

Frampton’s storytelling arsenal is set to be boosted after getting the nod to replace McStay in the Pies grand final side.

“I would be cheering harder than anyone,” Davis said.