It’s official: Hawthorn are a better side without Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin.
Any pre-season doubts as to whether the Hawks could move on without the talisman, who had served the club so graciously for nine seasons and kicked over 500 goals, have all but been cast aside.
The club has won six of their first seven matches and jointly shares the competition lead with Port Adelaide.
Buddy created headlines last October when he announced a high-profile move to the Sydney Swans on a nine-year, multi-million dollar contract. It was a move that earned the wrath of some figures in the AFL community, including Collingwood president Eddie McGuire and Carlton coach Mick Malthouse.
He left the Hawks having played 182 games, scoring 580 goals and winning two premiership medallions. He was, at the time, the best full-forward the Hawks had produced since the days of Jason Dunstall.
What he also left behind was an imposing forward line that have since excelled in his absence, including his successor as the Hawks’ main go-to man for their goals, Jarryd Roughead, as well as smaller forwards in Luke Breust and Jack Gunston.
The three aforementioned players, as well as regular defender Ryan Schoenmakers, each kicked four goals in the Hawks’ 145-point demolition of a St Kilda side which had started the season with so much promise after having been tipped by many for the wooden spoon this season.
The victory, the Hawks’ sixth out of a possible seven this season, pushes the club’s average winning margin up to 70 points, as they demonstrate to the AFL why they are heavily favoured to go back-to-back this year.
Not since the almighty Brisbane Lions class of 2001-03 has any side successfully defended the premiership, with only the Sydney Swans coming close to doing so.
Geelong were heavily favoured to repeat as premiers in 2008 after ending their 44-year premiership drought and losing only one regular season match. However, they fell foul of the Hawks’ defensive and well-documented game plan in the grand final, and lost by 26 points.
But if any team can successfully defend the flag this year, albeit minus Buddy Franklin who won two premierships during his nine years at the club, it’s the Hawks. If they do so this year could follow a similar track to that of Geelong’s.
The Cats won the premiership in 2011, the year after Gary Ablett Jr left the club for the Gold Coast. He too had spent nine years at the Cattery, during which he played in their 2007 and 2009 flags, and won the Brownlow Medal in the latter year.
Ablett has, since moving up to the holiday strip, re-established himself as the best player in the competition. He went on to win last year’s Brownlow Medal and is currently leading the Suns’ charge up the ladder.
Another Brownlow Medal this year would see Ablett become the first repeat medallist since Robert Harvey in 1997-8. Harvey is considered by many to be the greatest player never to have won a premiership medallion.
Having also won the Suns’ best-and-fairest title in each of his three years at the club, it’s a sure bet to say that it should be named in his honour when he finally retires.
Before he hangs up the boots though, he would love nothing more than to not only take the Suns to their first ever finals appearance, but also take them to the premiership.
Ablett only needs a Norm Smith Medal to stake his claim to being the greatest player to be produced this millennium.
Back to Buddy now. While the Hawks are dominating, he is struggling to find his feet at the Swans. His highest goal haul was only four, achieved against Adelaide and Fremantle in Rounds 3 and 5 respectively.
A knee injury suffered against Melbourne last week kept him out of the Swans’ match against the Brisbane Lions; as such, he has now not played a premiership match in Queensland since Round 5, 2008.
Swans fans need to be patient with their multi-million dollar recruit; he will eventually rise back to his best form as the team starts to climb the ladder after a disappointing start to the season by their standards.
In almost the same manner, Suns fans persisted as their side made the transition into AFL football with a difficult first two seasons, until their improvement last year saw them as one of the teams to watch this year.
Not only is their captain Gary Ablett running the show, last year’s Rising Star winner Jaeger O’Meara is also fast becoming one of the premier midfielders of the competition, as is Dion Prestia.
Coincidentally, both Gary Ablett and Buddy left their original clubs at the age of 26 and having both won two premiership medallions each. In fact, both the Cats and Hawks have remained powerhouses in the AFL since their respective departures in 2010 and last year.
Now it remains to be seen whether Buddy Franklin will replicate the same form he did at Hawthorn, at the Swans. Yes, he has been slow to get going, but eventually he will prove to the Swans that his multi-million dollar contract is worth every cent.
But for now, Hawthorn will be the team to beat as they look to become the first team in eleven years to successfully defend the premiership.
* Editor’s note: At the time of this article going to print, Geelong had yet to play its Round 7 match against Richmond.
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