Life as a Sydney Swans supporter is full of ups and downs. Nothing is more certain – not even taxes – than Victorian media bias against the Harbourside club.
Victorian centric football media won’t talk about the Swans unless they’re defying the odds, or mucking it up big time. The irony wasn’t missed in the wash-up of Friday night’s loss to Geelong, with all and sundry taking a swing at the Swans and their superstar players.
Friday night’s performance was as surprising as it was dumbfounding. The Swans lead the week with the campaign #defytheodds, the team banner displaying the same slogan. Instead of defying the odds with a win, they defied the odds with their worst performance of the year. Alanis Morissette with her 10 thousand spoons has nothing on the Swans.
It’s hardly surprising the usual suspects are critiquing Lance Franklin’s worth based on a handful of finals. It’s the same useless mouth pieces that continue to get airtime when most people stopped paying any attention to them. Unfortunately they’re also former AFL greats, club legends and loved, if not revered icons of the sport. Like Cameron Ling’s nauseating commentary, you just can’t avoid it.
Dermott Brereton recently stuck his fork into the Franklin discussion, adding to the growing list of yearly articles by various journalists. His recent effort – albeit a radio interview – added more noise to the growing cacophony of narrow-minded criticism.
“Given what they have paid for the players they have attracted there… they got close, but you would probably say (2017 is) a failure,” the five-time premiership star told SEN’s The Run Home.
“I mean Lance’s contract of $10 million, I would think they would have expected to win a premiership or two in that era. He’s been fantastic and they haven’t landed one with him yet. It’s starting to mount up a little bit on them.”
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Gary Ablett and Chris Judd lived through the same pressure through their big money moves, and while Judd was better suited to deal with it, and Carlton did a superb job of protecting him, Ablett and Franklin have struggled with the expectations. But not as much as people would think.
Judd and Ablett won their second Brownlow medals after moving clubs, have won their clubs’ best and fairest and collected more All Australian guernseys. Their legacy at both clubs are set – they’ll be future AFL legends.
The same goes for Franklin. A three-time All Australian and two-time Coleman medalist since moving to the Swans and boasting countless match-winning performances, arguably better than he was at Hawthorn. Throw in two grand final appearances as well, and it’s not all bad.
Dermott is hardly the first AFL personality to stick the fork in, following the well-trodden path of Lloyd, Lyon and many former players in the media. The one thing they steadfastly refuse to budge on is his “worth”.
They see a club willing to spend $10.3 million over 9 years to win premierships. They don’t see the impact he’s had on the club and football in New South Wales.
Which is why the staunch support from Gerard Healy, Steven Johnson and Chris Judd is so polarising in an industry that thrives on negative criticism. Johnson, the only current footballer from the three in his final season, was the first to write about Buddy’s positive influence on AFL in Sydney and New South Wales.
“There haven’t been many more watchable players than Buddy in the 150 or more years the game has been played. He hasn’t just captivated the avid AFL followers; he is one of the key reasons why football in Sydney is going from strength to strength,” Johnson wrote.
“He drags people to the game up there just to say they have seen him in action, much the same was as Winx does on the racetracks.
“Sydney’s aggressive, expensive decision to recruit Buddy — as a 26-year-old at the end of the 2013 season — was a football decision but they also knew he would put bums on seats — which he has.
“It’s fair to say Sydney’s huge investment in Buddy — which was questioned by some at the time because of the nine-year contract — has been justified both on and off the field.”
Gerard Healy echoed similar sentiments when he spoke on Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday night.
“It seems to be almost a rush to the phone or the typewriter as soon as the Swans get knocked out in a final,” Healy told Fox Footy’s On The Couch.
“The Buddy deal, irrespective of a premiership, to me is a great success already.
“He’s going to have to play another three or four or five years to make sure that the average that they’re paying him doesn’t blowout. (But) they’ve got a record number of memberships, they had a record number of people at the SCG (against Essendon) — Buddy Franklin makes people talk about football in Sydney.
“We’re spending 30-odd million dollars out in the west to get people to talk about footy — Buddy’s doing it for one (million dollars).”
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Chris Judd was similarly full of praise, and along with Gerard stated that there’s an unhealthy obsession in the football media with the Swans and Buddy Franklin.
“After Sydney’s convincing defeat to Geelong in last Friday night’s semi-final there has inevitably been commentary around whether the Buddy Franklin deal has been a failure,” Chris wrote.
“Many in the media have an opinion, which they hold as fact, that for the deal to have been a success, Sydney must win a premiership.
“To believe that one player holds the responsibility for premiership success on his shoulders is the stuff made of fairy tales and fails to take into account just how many moving parts are required to be working at full capacity before a club can hold up the cup.”
Franklin does things on the field no other football can do and very few before him have done. His superstar presence on and off the field has turned a Rugby League market’s indifferent attitude towards AFL into a craved frenzy, where the kids just can’t get enough.
There’s more kids wanting to play football than there are clubs or facilities that can support them. It reached critical stage two weeks ago when AFL chief Gillon McLachlan declared the situation as “almost the biggest challenge facing our game.”
“We’ll play whatever role we can in turning it around and whatever the solutions are, I’m not going to accept turning kids away,” said McLachlan.
Two successful teams in Sydney has driven the dramatic growth of the league in the toughest market in Australia. Memberships for both clubs are at record levels, almost 80 thousand between them (the Swans had 24,995 in 2005).
A grand final appearance for the Giants, coupled with the remarkable recovery of the record-setting Swans, will no doubt lead to further growth in New South Wales and challenge the pre-conceptions held by those in established football markets.
Lance Franklin isn’t solely responsible for the rapid growth of AFL in Sydney, but there’s no denying that he’s had a significant impact. While the Swans will rue the ’14 and ’16 deciders, Franklin has been far more successful in Sydney than anyone could have hoped or imagined.
Johnson said it best – “he puts bums on seats”. Everyone wants to be him, especially the kids.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Item #2356 on your list of blatant double standards - you have routinely bagged out Adam Goodes for making it all about him and drawing the spotlight to the racism he was enduring, yet apparently Franklin is judged by a different standard in your eyes. You just make it up as you go along
Paul D
Roar Guru
Tippett is not on 800K - not since the end of 2015 at any rate
Sydney Steve
Guest
here here! Tippett is on $800k - and i reckon franklin is worth about 800 more. although tip has been unlucky with injuries etc
Trevor
Guest
Tippett will be gone in a couple of months.
Philby
Guest
I think Buddy's been worth every cent, and it's not his efforts that have stopped the Swans landing a premiership. It is a team game, you know.
nungamuncha
Guest
"Friday night’s performance was as surprising as it was dumbfounding." unfortunately for Sydney it is neither surprising nor dumbfounding but close to being typical of them in do-or-die finals and that is the problem for them to now address. Sydney deserves lots of criticism for its recent finals performances and terrible start to the year. I agree with you about Franklin though, he cops more than his fair share of blame for Sydney's failures. And Warnie was the greatest cricketer of his generation by far. He did not need a bent arm to get wickets just some help from his mom.
Lachie Abbott
Roar Pro
The Tippett contract should be the deal in discussion. Buddy is the best key forward of the modern era.
Birdman
Guest
was there the day he kicked 13 against North in Launceston with a bunch of my Roo supporting mates - how good was that trip back to Hobart?
anon
Roar Pro
Frankiln has been an AA in 3 of his 4 seasons at the Swans. The only year didn't was when he had mental health problems and took time out of the game. Without Franklin this year, Sydney doesn't make the 8. Without Franklin in previous years they aren't a top 2 or top 4 team depending on the season. I think some people think Buddy should know his place. A lot of people prefer Aboriginals to be quiet and unassuming like a Cyril Rioli rather than walk with a strut and be married to a stunning model. Why isn't Western's failure on Tom Boyd who is on the same money as Franklin yet has played about one breakout game in his career (which happened to be the Grand Final). Apart from that he's been a total flop. If Martin doesn't win the premiership next week did Richmond fail by signing Martin to an expensive contract? Let's face it, this is Richmond best and likely only chance of winning a premiership with this group. Chris Scott has won three finals since 2011 yet has been hailed as a coaching genius throughout the week. If you want a marquee forward that can deliver then $10 million over 9 years is what it costs. Clubs were willing to give Martin $1.5 million per year based on 12 months of good form. Tom Boyd got a million a year just on potential. Buddy already had a great track record at Hawthorn and was in his prime when the Swans bought him.
Maurice
Guest
Who was the best cricketer if it wasn,t Warnie ?
Dean
Guest
Buddy is the one player of this generation that I would pay to go and see play live just so I could say I went to see him. If you think the ex player journalists are bad, try being a Storm supporter in Melbourne and have to put up with Gus Gould commentating during a Storm game. Maybe there's a good article. Write about the Sydney commentators doing the Storm games, and the Melbourne commentators doring the Swans games. God forbid the Giants losing this weekend because they are already copping plenty for having a shocking crowd last week. What the Melbourne journalists don't acknowledge was that Parramatta were playing next door in a final. When Parramatta are in a final, the fans come out of the woodwork.
Justin Mitchell
Roar Guru
Could hear BT grunting in the background too
Brayden Rise
Roar Pro
Hard to argue that Buddy is anything but a champion, drawcard and future AFL legend. Flags are tough to win consistently which shows why the modern Hawks, Lions and Cats have been so remarkable. The Swans have two flags this millenium and aren't far behind. Last year was the one that hurt the most you would think. The Doggies should have been spent and easy pickings after their Herculean effort to make it. How they won it is now the stuff of legends but the Swannies will always be the ones who had to lose for the Dogs fairytale to happen. They were the equivalent of Jerker Jenkins of the 1970 grand final - the back that Jezza took his screamer on. Otherwise they'd be up their with the Cats and mighty Brisbane Lions teams as sitting in second pace in the counting of flags behind the Hawks for this millenium.
Cat
Roar Guru
All depends on why he was recruited. As a marketing exercise, absolutely its a homerun. If you are talking from a purely football point of view, it gets a whole lot murkier. Franklin's recruitment saw Sydney unable to keep Mumford (who Sydney would very much have liked to keep) at the very least and potentially others as well (hard to separate Tippett's and Buddy's effect on the salary cap). Sydney didn't choose to play with a 38 man list because they couldn't find two more players worthwhile having on the list, they did it because of salary cap constraints. Sydney have also become too 'Buddy-centric' at times since his arrival. Hawthorn actually became a better side after Franklin left because they were able to balance their attack better. Franklin does make Sydney better, but he also makes them more one-dimensional.
Liam
Guest
Higher ceiling than anyone playing? Yes. Better than anyone else at turning the result of a game? Yes. Immediately makes his side more of a threat of winning any match? Yes. Outside of purely statistical comparisons, name a player who is better in each of these three ways than Buddy is, and I'll willingly admit that he isn't the best player in the AFL. He's not the most consistent out there, but if you listed players that were - Kennedy (Swans) Pendlebury, Mitchell, Rockcliff - you've a group of excellent players, but not the best in the AFL.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Tippett's problem has been getting on the park. The few times he's had a consistent run at it, he's been good. I personally think he needs to shed some muscle and build his endurance so he can play in the ruck.
Shane
Guest
When I saw the headline Franklin hyperbole - I assumed it'd have some reference to Bruce McAvaney. Special's calls contain such gushing hyperbole, it's almost a parody. His "Oh Dennis, where are you, I need you" response to Buddy running lose down the boundary line a couple of weeks ago sounded more like Slash (and I'm not referring to the guitarist).
Bretto
Guest
Second sentence spot on - anyone would have paid that to get Buddy - I wish my team had. Third sentence rubbish - he not the best player in the league by a long shot. Most watchable, yes. Like Warnie wasn't the best cricketer, but you wouldn't be getting a fresh beer while he was bowling.
JD
Guest
LOL
Paul D
Roar Guru
The Victorian football media should stick to writing about Victorian clubs I like the Swans because they don't give a stuff what anyone south of Mildura thinks and long may that continue. Agreed also that it is still far too early to assess the Franklin deal as a failure. Good article.