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All season speculation continues to arise that Lance Franklin may leave Hawthorn at the end of this season, possibly bound for GWS Giants.
However, he has left us guessing all season long as to what his future will hold by delaying all contract negotiations until the flag has been won or lost.
But the question we all want answered is: will he, or won’t he, join Greater Western Sydney?
Here are my four reasons why I think Lance Franklin should take up what could be the most lucrative offer in AFL history:
1. It’s time for a change
Inevitably, some AFL players will have to switch clubs either for the better of the club, or for the better of the team. But it could have some dire consequences as well on both fronts.
When Gary Ablett left Geelong in 2010, the Cats appeared to be on the decline and the club had just exited the finals just one week short of the Grand Final, losing easily to Collingwood in the preliminary final.
Then, just a week later, Ablett stunned the entire AFL community by announcing that he would move to the Gold Coast Suns on a $2 million-a-year contract for the next five years.
Geelong fans subsequently branded him as a ‘traitor’ and with the departure of Mark Thompson following, fans feared a further slide down the ladder.
But it was not to be – the Cats hired two-time Brisbane Lions premiership-winning defender Chris Scott as their head coach, and within the next 12 months the Cats would celebrate a third premiership in five years.
Meanwhile, Gary Ablett was starting to shine in a Gold Coast Suns side full of youngsters, which were regularly getting beaten up every week.
Ablett must also be thinking what could have been after the Cats won the 2011 flag, whilst his Suns claimed the wooden spoon – he had just missed a chance to become one of the many players who would feature in Geelong’s 2007, 2009 and 2011 premierships.
And with the Cats potentially heading for a fourth premiership in seven years this year, he will further miss the chance to become a four-time premiership player.
But even so, his form never diminished and in 2012 he continued to step up his game, matching the standards he set at Geelong.
He finished sixth in the 2012 Brownlow Medal count with 24 votes, only two man-of-the-match awards behind eventual medallist Jobe Watson.
One must be wondering about the difficult times that potentially lie ahead for Buddy Franklin should he choose to make the move up to GWS.
But in the same way that Ablett has had to lead and help a developing Gold Coast side, Franklin could do the same for the Giants.
On the upside, though, Franklin’s potential move to GWS could also trigger instant on-field success, as it did when Tony Lockett moved to the then-struggling Sydney Swans in 1995.
Lockett’s arrival at the Swans came when the club was very close to extinction (a different scenario as to what GWS are facing now, whereby they are trying to crack rugby league’s stranglehold in the western Sydney era).
The club had come off a hat-trick of wooden spoons and won only eight matches in three years, but Lockett’s arrival triggered instant success for the club and within two years the battlers of the AFL would appear in the Grand Final, losing to North Melbourne.
Lockett, and then Barry Hall, would lay the foundations for the success that the Swans are enjoying right now (two flags in the last eight years).
2. Escape the media scrutiny in Melbourne by moving to Sydney
Many AFL footballers have, in the past, chosen the city of Sydney as a means of escaping the continual media scrutiny in Melbourne, and it has proven to be a success.
Strong examples of this include Barry Hall and Tony Lockett. Both started their respective careers at St Kilda, but the lure of potentially being paid more money at the Swans was what tempted them to move north.
And both have triggered instant success for the Sydney Swans on the field, as well as the impact of the sport in the Harbour City.
Tony Lockett’s already mentioned move to Sydney allowed him to escape the media scrutiny in Melbourne, after he was suspended for eight weeks for an incident involving Peter Caven whilst still playing for St Kilda in 1994 (he kicked 11 goals in that match).
Then it was Barry Hall’s move to Sydney in 2002 that also allowed him to escape the continuing media scrutiny in Melbourne.
Stuck behind the shadow of then-rising star Nick Riewoldt and the recent arrival of Fraser Gehrig, Hall’s move to Sydney allowed him to develop his career in his own right, and by 2004 he was named in the All-Australian team.
Hall stated at the time that he enjoyed his first year in Sydney, despite being suspended for five matches following an incident against Port Adelaide partway through that season.
It allowed him to develop his career when nobody knew who he was when he first arrived in Sydney.
The development of his career (he led the Swans to its first premiership in 72 years in 2005) led to him becoming a household name in Sydney, however, a series of so-called ‘brain snaps’ would eventually lead to him leaving the club in 2009 and returning to Melbourne to finish his career at the Western Bulldogs.
The Swans’ famous ‘no dickheads’ policy is one of the main reasons why the club has experienced sustained success in the last 18 years, having missed the finals only three times since 1995.
Perhaps the Giants could implement a similar policy at their club as well.
Whilst Buddy Franklin is already a household name in Melbourne, he will attract more media scrutiny in Sydney, given that he will be playing in a team that will very likely continue to struggle next year.
Whether he will instantly become a hit in Sydney will also be interesting. Fans will barely recognise him in his first year living in the Harbour City (and actually mistake him for the NRL’s Greg Inglis, who bears a similar resemblance to Buddy in appearance).
But once they start watching him on television then they will have a clearer vision of who he actually is and what sport he plays.
3. Experience and a marquee player needed at GWS
Experience is something the GWS Giants are lacking right now. As of the conclusion of Round 12, the Giants sit at the bottom of the ladder and have lost their last sixteen matches in succession.
The Giants have lost Luke Power and James Macdonald to retirement in the last 12 months and their absences are being sorely felt on the field.
They have left behind a bunch of players who lack AFL experience, most of them having only been recruited in the 2011 and 2012 AFL Drafts.
Add to that the fact that the Giants were unable to really recruit a ‘marquee player’, such as that of Gary Ablett’s or Jimmy Bartel’s calibre, though they did come close to snaring the latter player.
The Giants also need a well-recognised forward up front. Whilst Jeremy Cameron is fast becoming one of the power forwards in the game today, as evidenced by his 33 goals for the season to date, it’s clear he needs a partner up forward.
With Jonathon Patton out for the season, the Giants are lacking a second target in the forward line and that is why they are either kicking very low scores, or fading late in matches.
The addition of Franklin to the GWS forward line could turn the team into one of the most feared AFL clubs in the near future.
Essendon (Lloyd and Lucas), St Kilda (Gehrig and Riewoldt) and Sydney (Hall and O’Loughlin) have relied on two-man forward lines in recent years, and it has worked.
Thus, a Cameron/Franklin forward line would also work for the Giants. The addition of Buddy to the GWS forward line could potentially fast-track their rise up the ladder and the club could be playing finals within five years.
But fans will need to learn that success will not come in an instant, and that it will take time for Buddy to adjust to playing around potentially young teammates as opposed to the familiar surroundings he has enjoyed at Hawthorn in the past nine years.
When Brendan Fevola joined Brisbane in 2010, a lot of things were expected between him and fellow Coleman Medallist Jonathan Brown.
Their combination appeared to work very well for Brisbane, with the team winning four straight matches to start the season, but by the end of the season everything would fall apart and Fevola would no longer continue his AFL career.
Thus, the Giants may want to be careful about how they approach the potential Cameron/Franklin partnership in their forward line.
4. Money
Finally, the lure of potentially becoming the highest-paid forward in AFL history could entice a move up north for Buddy Franklin.
The main reason why Gary Ablett moved up from Geelong to the Gold Coast Suns was because he could not resist the temptation of potentially becoming the AFL’s highest-ever paid player in the game.
The ‘son of God’ had just won the Brownlow Medal (in 2009) and was instrumental in two of Geelong’s three most recent premierships, and it was his successes which made him the top target for the Gold Coast Suns as they were preparing for their entry into the AFL.
Currently on a $2 million per season contract over five years, Ablett is already a superstar in his own right.
It is his continuing ability to adjust to his new team-mates that is one of the main reasons why the Suns have started to make progress this year.
It’s rumoured that the Giants are about to offer Buddy Franklin the same amount over the same period. This could also make him the highest-paid full forward in the game, if he was to make the move.
If Gary Ablett could not resist the temptation to move north, then Buddy Franklin shouldn’t either. It’s big money that he’s being offered.
So, should Buddy Franklin make the move to GWS? We’ll have to wait until at least the end of the season to find out.
Stay tuned for what could be the biggest decision ever made in AFL history. We’re all waiting with anticipation.
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