When Lance Franklin signed with the Sydney Swans at the end of the 2013 season, it effectively (and temporarily) blew away that year’s biggest story.
Stephen Dank, ASADA and the Essendon Bombers had given way to Buddy signing with the Swans, whipping up a media storm.
The hysteria over Franklin’s $10-million contract over nine years with the Swans, after turning down $7.2 million over six years with Greater Western Sydney, was overblown.
The controversy it caused was irrational. The media circus, while it may have been understandable, was pathetic.
Few players in the modern AFL game have caught our imagination better than Lance Franklin. He is an artist. His unorthodox and free spirited nature is what makes him the player he is. At his best, he is spellbinding, and one player who changes the course of a game at will.
Swans supporters know this well. When he was a Hawk, Franklin’s two long-range ‘missile’ goals in the third quarter, almost tipped the 2012 grand final on its head. He nearly snatched the game from Sydney to take the premiership for Hawthorn.
It was also the same game that inspired Franklin to ask his then-manager Liam Pickering to seek out the Swans. The way Sydney had won that flag against the odds – the ‘Blood’s Culture’ – had lured Buddy north to the Harbour side club, not the Cost of Living Allowance.
Swans’ bosses Richard Colless, Andrew Ireland and coach John Longmire knew what this meant, the COLA was likely to go as a result. They also made sure Buddy was sure he wanted to wear red and white.
That alone should have sent a message Sydney had not doing anything sinister with COLA. It may have been footy’s greatest kept secret; it doesn’t mean anything underhanded was done.
When a player of Lance Franklin’s stature comes to your club and says, “I want to play here,” what crazy club turns him down?
While Sydney may have expected a media storm, the Swans did not perceive the media harassment Franklin has endured. Buddy can’t sneeze without it making the front or back pages.
There is no doubt Lance Franklin is larger than life and one of the biggest personalities to have played the game. It doesn’t mean it warrants continuous scrutiny, which has dogged the champion forward for much of his career.
No sooner had Franklin arrived in Sydney and opportunistic photographers were snapping him at the Miss Bondi competition, which the Daily Telegraph’s Confidential happily reported.
Then there was the infamous prang. Somehow Buddy had crashed into four parked cars at Rose Bay. One of the cars ironically just happened to belong to a ‘lifelong Hawthorn supporter’ who said Franklin was doing his best not to be recognised. Other residents were quick to grab their 15 minutes of fame, going to Twitter to broadcast the incident.
Hilariously, it was suggested Franklin would destroy the Swans’ Blood’s Culture. His arrival had thrown a spanner in the works. It was alleged he and club legend, Norm Smith medallist Ryan O’Keefe, were not getting along, and that he was leading rising star midfielder Daniel Hannebery astray.
The news that Lance Franklin has been battling mental illness should not be seen for anything more than it actually is. The seizures have been occurring since before he arrived at Sydney, as was the documented case in 2012 with former housemate Sharrod Wellingham.
Seizures can be a by-product of stress. It doesn’t take much to trigger them. Epilepsy can take a psychological toll on those who suffer with it and can cause serious lifestyle downward spirals. This is the very reason why the Sydney Swans are taking Lance Franklin’s condition seriously.
It’s not out of the question to ask if the media scrutiny and attention has weighed on Franklin, to the point where his physically and psychologically breaking down. This is an issue for the AFLPA need to take into consideration.
It is also possible Lance Franklin has been putting pressure on himself to deliver. This is where the media attention has been unfair – the bloke did take out the Coleman Medal in his first season at Sydney.
If Buddy’s sudden absence costs the Swans the premiership for 2015 – who cares? Franklin’s health and wellbeing is more important. Footy needs him to come back better than ever.
And who is to say Sydney is suddenly a shot duck? Only those who haven’t got the imagination to believe the impossible and the improbable can not happen.
After all, the Sydney Swans have historically made habit of doing that. They aren’t known as the Bloods for nothing.
But for now, it’s time to leave Lance Franklin alone.
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