With Saturday afternoon’s drubbing at the hands of the high-flying Hawks, the Swans fell at the final hurdle in Lance Franklin’s first year at the club.
Franklin was contracted to the Swans to do three things – kick goals, put bums in seats, and win premierships.
Having kicked 67 goals in his 19 regular-season games for the Swans, Franklin was 2014’s top goal scorer, and collected his third Coleman medal. He definitely kicked the goals.
The Swans enjoyed record membership sales on the back of Franklin’s signing, with 30,000 members signed up by early February. They finished with over 38,000 members – over 8,000 more members than two years ago when they last played in a grand final.
Sydney’s crowd numbers also rose to an average of over 32,000 per game. The massive crowds against Geelong and Port Adelaide were signs that the Swans were again major players in the Sydney market.
The Swans recorded huge crowd numbers to both of their home finals, despite the fact both games were taken to ANZ Stadium from their traditional home of the SCG.
Judging by the amount of Swans jerseys displaying their big forward’s number 23, it’s fair to say Franklin put bums on seats. His image was certainly plastered everywhere throughout September.
As for the grand final, Franklin kicked four goals and was arguably Sydney’s most notable contributor. The Swans simply ran into a superior side on the day. Perhaps only the Geelong side of 2007 would have been able to wrestle back momentum from the red-hot Hawks on Saturday afternoon.
Franklin stood up and booted four goals, his best grand final tally in his amazing career, while Sydney’s other big name goal-kicker Kurt Tippett was kept quiet.
Franklin wasn’t able to deliver a premiership in his first season at the club despite his best efforts.
At over a million dollars a season, is two out of three good enough?
In 2014 Buddy collected a Coleman medal, 22 Brownlow votes and bagged four goals on grand final day. He couldn’t have done any more in his first year at the Harbour City.
With the best part of a decade remaining on his multi-million dollar deal, if the Swans can manage to provide Franklin with a suitable supporting cast, the flags will come.
Cam Reddin
Roar Rookie
Well written Daniel! Agree in every part.
TW
Guest
The AFL is happy with the AFL TV ratings for the Grand Final and the season. There was a huge audience TV nationally for the GF which included an AFL team from Sydney. All commercial channels are interested in the next TV agreement. There is talk about a 10 year deal. Read on http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-in-a-grand-position-to-tune-in-to-broadcast-rights-talks-20140929-10nn5r.html
Scuba
Guest
2005 isn't that fair a comparison, given that the Swans hadn't won in 72 years - a bit like Queensland used to take a real interest in the Sheffield Shield until they finally won it in the 90s, and now two men and a dog follow it like they do in every other state.
Ian
Guest
Why don't we await and see if your prediction is right and the prediction of the Swans Board is wrong?
bilbo
Guest
Tv ratings in Sydney for grand final 551k this year,Compered to 740k in 2012 and down from 991k in 2005
Dooggy
Guest
Could have kicked 10... still would have lost.
Domitian
Guest
82500 as an oval. 84000 rectangular,
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Maybe, but the overall cap will go up too remember, so his salary actually goes down when considered as a % of the overall cap.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Seeing as 700 goals in a season works out to be over 30 goals a game, then yes, he should become a superstar.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
70k is pretty much a sellout as the capacity in oval configuration is 72k I believe.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Franklin has two cheap years on his contract, and then the cap hit goes up. He's also an agility player, and when those players hit the wall, they hit it hard and go from brilliant to useless with nothing in between. His recruitment was to prop the flag window open, and it'll need a premiership to be a success, because years 5-7 of the contract will do ugly things to the Swans salary cap.
Olivia Watts
Roar Guru
As a Swans supporter I'm shattered by the GF result but in no way do I think Franklin's recruitment has been anything less than an unqualified success. He has electrified the football community in Sydney, single handedly increased membership by over 20%, brought home the Coleman medal and went within a handful of votes of adding a Brownlow to his list of achievements. The man could not reasonably have done more to justify his contract and all Swans fans should be thankful for his efforts.
Shouts Chen
Guest
Buddy franklin might play on and kick another 100 goals for next year. He has the power to kick more goals. If he can surpass 700 goals in 2015, then he should become a superstar.
Ian
Guest
Buddy coming to the Swans was a fantastic success because it put bums ion seats and because it provided a great replacement for a series of outstanding forwards.wh9 pulled crowds. Sydney's non-AFL people need a figurehead to get them involved with the game which is still developing a strong following. This filters down to the junior levels which are gradually growing - the kids ned people to "hero-worship" and Buddy and Goodesy ar two of those. Originally IU had hoped that Buddy would go to GWS but I don't think (in hindsight) they are ready for such a move -0 Buddy's talents would have been far too advanced for the Giants at this stage, and he would have been forced to play a Gary Ablett role there - and I don't think he is the person to do that at the moment. Buddy's strength is providing a great role model for Kurt Tippett and Sam Reid (who I think has enormous potential to be a great Full Forward). I just hope Goodes and Malcescki remain with the Swans next year as their riles in the Swans this year have been enormous.
conchie
Roar Rookie
It was a success except for winning the flag, ( sounds a silly statement I know) the salary cap when he is paid the big $ will be substantially higher then so it is all not as bad as it sounds, % wise. You could argue that a flag in 2/4 years time will pay off better than a flag in his first year.
Brian
Guest
Not sure it was a success. He has a 9 year contract where he is clearly overpaid for years 5-9 meaning the value is in the first 4 years before it becomes a disadvantage. That means a very good chance at a flag is gone and they don't come round all the time. Still a great chance next year but not sure about after that.
Rich_daddy
Roar Guru
"The Swans recorded huge crowd numbers to both of their home finals, despite the fact both games were taken to ANZ Stadium from their traditional home of the SCG." I think that's overstating it. They pulled 35,000 and 50,000 to their finals matches. Not bad considering their opponents have smaller travelling fans, but I wouldn't call that huge. I think you'll find they have pulled similar numbers in previous finals at the venue. For me, the ANZ is still a ghost town stadium. The Swans have never managed a sell out crowd at the venue, with the largest crowd (by a far margin) was way back in 2003 against the pies which I think was around 70,000.
Rich_daddy
Roar Guru
To be honest, I am not sure if they recruited him predominantly to win a premiership. I think "putting bum on seats" was the very much the primary consideration. I suspect the marketing department had a bit of say to getting him to Sydney as from a team structure perspective I don't think they really needed him. I was a little sceptical when they I first found out about the signing, I thought it could upset the balance of the team. However I am happy to be proven wrong. In the games I have seen live, the most impressive thing about Franklin was his defensive pressure and unselfishness in dishing off to teammates if they were in better positions.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Hardly Franklin's fault the Swans lost. He, Malceski and Kennedy were the only good things about the team on Saturday. Everyone else should hang their heads in shame.
slane
Guest
Depends on your definition of success. For example I'm sure Sydney could have lost the Grand Final just fine without Buddy. They could have bought a million dollar paper weight and still lost the GF. However if he got bums on seats and people in NSW watching the game then he was without a doubt a success.