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Old dogs' new kicks: Riewoldt and Franklin are turning back the clock

Lance Franklin might benefit from the new rules. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Expert
17th May, 2016
6

Amid the hype around the AFL’s young tall forwards Tom Lynch, Jake Stringer, Jeremy Cameron and Jesse Hogan, two veteran key forwards have flown under the radar somewhat despite their outstanding seasons so far.

Leading into 2016, football fans could have been forgiven for thinking that we had seen the best of 33-year-old Nick Riewoldt and 29-year-old Lance Franklin.

Riewoldt had been an outstanding player for St Kilda, one of the finest in the club’s history. But entering his 16th AFL season, with a tiring body and a game built around his athleticism, he did look like he could be playing his final year.

St Kilda have a great batch of developing tall forwards, including Josh Bruce and number one draft pick Paddy McCartin. Bruce booted 50 goals last season, almost twice as many as Riewoldt, while the Saints planned to construct their forward line around McCartin.

All this suggested that Riewoldt may not be required beyond 2016. Yet right now the Saints skipper looks like he could play on to 3016 such has been his immense impact in the opening eight rounds.

So well is he covering the ground that Riewoldt is on track to break his career records for both possessions and marks per game. He is averaging 20 touches per match, a figure he has never before achieved across a full season, while his 11 marks per game also betters any previous effort.

At his current rate he’s headed for 50 goals for the regular season, a total he hasn’t bettered since 2009 when at his physical peak and the Saints finished as minor premiers with a dominant 20-2 win-loss ledger.

The veteran has been roaming far and wide to create space behind him for Bruce and McCartin. Riewoldt has spent just 23 per cent of game time inside the forward 50m arc, according to a stat quoted by Matthew Lloyd on the most recent Sunday Footy Show.

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He’s always had phenomenal agility and endurance for a key forward. As much as his contested marking is and has always been elite, it has been Riewoldt’s ability to outwork his opponents which has made him one of the greatest centre-half forwards the game has seen.

Even though he turns 34 in just a few months, Riewoldt still is able to find space like few other forwards in the game. No longer as athletic as he was in his pomp, his wonderful reading of the play ensures that he often stays a metre or two ahead of his direct opponent.

For a tall forward to be playing at such a level, 306 games into his career, is truly remarkable. Right now, he would be in my All Australian team.

Alongside him up forward in that team would be Franklin.

Over the past 11 years, positive and negative publicity have closely followed the big left-footer wherever he has gone. When, shortly before his 27th birthday, he signed a monster nine-year contract with Sydney, it seemed the Swans were taking a wild risk.

I was among those who believed it was a mistake, given many champion key forwards before Buddy had been finished not long after they turned 30 years old. Franklin was brilliant for the Swans in 2014 and 2015, but then late last season stepped away from the game, and a crucial finals campaign, due to mental health issues.

It was a complete unknown how long he would be out of action, or how he would fare when he did eventually return to the AFL.

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Well, now we know. Franklin has been unstoppable this season, producing football the equal of anything in his career.

With 34 goals so far he is producing the kind of numbers which could see him break the 100-goal barrier for the second time in his career and the first time since 2008. Yet his goal kicking has only been a part of the package this season.

Franklin’s also averaging 18 touches per game, is second in the league for inside 50s at 6.1 per game, and is among the leading goal assist players in the competition with seven. He’s not just kicking bags of goals but also bringing his teammates into the game.

Somehow, amid all this, you could argue that he’s actually been going about it quietly. He’s yet to kick the big bag or eight or nine goals which always spawns a cluster of back page headlines. Instead, Franklin has been incredibly consistent in his output, scoring at least four goals in seven of his eight games. The one game he didn’t reach that mark he still had seven scoring shots, to go with 20 touches and nine inside 50s.

Such a level of consistency is almost unheard of for key forwards in the modern game. Of course, Riewoldt is in the same boat. That veteran pair are tearing the competition apart.

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