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Lance Franklin’s change of heart from Parramatta to Bondi is a small one distance-wise considering how big this country is. In sporting terms, however, the switch has major ramifications for the city of Sydney.
While everyone guessed the right city as his destination, the move to the Swans rather than GWS was kept a secret until Tuesday morning.
Personal reasons such as romance and lifestyle choices have been given, but I think the lure of playing for a team that could potentially win a premiership next year may have been a tipping point.
GWS Giants will be competitive in a couple of years, but until then will be a wasteland for someone who is as addicted to success as the former Hawk.
Sydney deserve plaudits for claiming a quality player for the second year running, but it will set off a huge backlash against the club and its salary cap allowance.
Its $1 million allowance for ‘cost-of-living’ issues in the New South Wales capital will come under scrutiny, with many accusing it of being a ‘slush fund’ to poach.
Questions will be asked how a $900,000 forward and a $1.4 million-a-year forward can fit under the salary cap without the allowance being used to fund the purchase.
The Swans will rightly point out that the long-serving and well-paid Jude Bolton and Martin Mattner have retired, while ruckmen Shane Mumford and Jessie White want out.
The Melbourne clubs will rightly point out that those players need to be replaced at a cost as well.
If the anger directed at the Kurt Tippett deal was bad, the acquisition of Franklin will see a great amount of vitriol directed at the SCG boys.
The ramifications, however, extend beyond AFL into the Sydney sporting scene.
Football will be the least affected, but the Alessandro Del Piero-led Sydney FC has another star sportsman to compete against for attention.
In an already saturated market, it will force them to promote the hell of out their superstar Italian signing to keep pace.
Rugby league and rugby union will also be cringing at the sight of a Bondi-based Buddy.
League has another battle to fight in its war with the AFL at a time when the NRL is suffering from poor crowds and bad press.
The ARU, however, will be the ones dreading the arrival of Franklin the most.
Andrew Webster of the Sydney Morning Herald wrote in August about the influence of Franklin on the three amigos in Quade Cooper, James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale.
“In the eyes of some rugby officials, Melbourne had become their code’s own version of Vegas,” he wrote.
“That is where the Three Amigos transform into the self-named ‘Bungy Brothers’ and hook up with Franklin. For some time, the ARU has been concerned about the influence of Franklin on some of their players.”
With Cooper and O’Connor in Sydney regularly for union matches and Beale signed to the Waratahs, the ARU will have nightmares trying to keep these notorious troublemakers on the right path with Franklin permanently in town.
When Franklin hits town, expect a lot of attention from various areas of the sporting world.
His move will be scrutinised by many as the Buddy Franklin aura grows larger by the minute in Sin City.
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