All eyes on Buddy in Sydney Swans' SCG homecoming

This Friday night the Sydney Swans return home to the SCG for the first time in just over nine months, with all the focus of the AFL world on Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin as he aims to become the first man in over a quarter of a century to crack 1000 career goals.

The talisman entered the new season just five goals in arrears of the magical milestone, and fell well short of it after being contained by GWS nemesis Phil Davis in the Sydney derby at Accor Stadium last Saturday night.

Instead, it was Luke Parker who booted five majors in a clear best-on-ground performance as the Swans shook off a determined challenge from their cross-town rivals to win by 20 points and avenge last year’s heartbreaking one-point defeat to them in last year’s finals series.

Buddy ended up with only one major for the night, off a free kick in the second quarter, to bring his career haul to 996.

It has been suggested that he didn’t want to bring up the milestone at their rivals’ home game, instead preferring to back himself in for a huge performance at the SCG where celebrations stand to be massive should it be achieved against the Geelong Cats this Friday night.

Only the older AFL fans will remember the last pitch invasion to occur at the ground, when Tony Lockett booted his then-record breaking 1300th goal against Collingwood back in 1999.

And not since 1996 has any player brought up 1000 career goals, when Gary Ablett Sr brought up the milestone against Fremantle at Kardinia Park.

Since then, the only player who’s come closest to doing so was Essendon spearhead Matthew Lloyd, who finished a 270-game career on 926 career goals and could so easily have cracked the four figures and the 300-game milestone if not for a serious hamstring injury in 2006.

Lloyd had been appointed as the Bombers’ newest captain that year and in his first match as skipper made a huge statement kicking eight goals (six of them in the first quarter alone) against then-reigning premiers the Swans at Marvel Stadium in the opening round.

Just two weeks later, he would suffer a season-ending hamstring injury against the Western Bulldogs on his 28th birthday, and his absence would be deeply felt as the club finished that season in 15th place on the ladder.

Despite his absence and their lowly finish (only avoiding the wooden spoon to Carlton on percentage), the Bombers actually scored the most points of any non-finals side that year (ranked 9th in attack), with Scott Lucas emerging from Lloyd’s shadow to boot 67 majors.

Lloyd was never the same player after that, despite kicking 62 goals in each of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, and many could argue that his retirement at the end of the 2009 season was fast-tracked by the sacking of legendary coach Kevin Sheedy two years earlier.

Similarly, Buddy missed the entire 2020 season due to a hamstring injury, as the Swans finished 16th on the ladder – both his and their lowest ever finish on the ladder.

Despite missing several games due to injury last year, Buddy managed 51 goals to bring his career haul to 995, thus creating the excitement and anticipation that his 1000th career goal could arrive early this season.

You can anticipate that a high presence of security and police on the boundary line will be in readiness for the pitch invasion that’s expected to take place should he crack the four figures this weekend.

The 35-year-old was also at the centre of the most recent in-match pitch invasion, when he booted his 100th goal for the 2008 season against Carlton at Marvel Stadium, in Round 22.

In that same match, Brendan Fevola, who entered the final round on 92 goals for the season, booted seven to just fall short of his own ton, saving security guards and police from having to dish out another hundreds of thousands of fines.

Despite the threat of such action, the AFL have been powerless to prevent mid-match pitch invasions from taking place, with CEO Gillon McLachlan even going as far to say that “officially, you shouldn’t run on the ground, but… it would be a good look, wouldn’t it?”

It might as well be the last time that any player reaches the 1000-goal milestone as we know it, while a 100-goal season by any individual player might also be a thing of the past.

Buddy aside, the only other debutant post-2000 to even get close to the four figures is former St Kilda forward Nick Riewoldt, who finished with 718 goals from 336 games.

His cousin, Jack, is next best with 716 from 306 games and is likely to overtake Nick on Sunday when Richmond plays GWS at the MCG.

Now to the match at hand, where both the Swans and Cats will aim for a 2-0 start to their seasons in what promises to be a blockbuster.

Just before the Swans came from behind to get the better of the Giants, the Cats made a mockery of preseason predictions that their time as flag contenders could be about to come to an end, unleashing on a poor Essendon side with an 11-goal win at the MCG.

Former Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield and Tom Hawkins were the chief destroyers for the Cats, with 22 disposals and four goals respectively, as they embarrassed and exposed a Bombers side many had tipped to be the most improved side this season.

Forward Jeremy Cameron has been cleared of any serious injury following a brutal collision with Bomber Jayden Laverde which saw the ex-Giant taken to hospital, though whether he makes the trip to Sydney remains up in the air.

Thus, any fears that the Cats could be on the decline following their preliminary final humiliation at the hands of Melbourne last year may be exaggerated for now.

The corresponding match last year saw the Cats get out to a fast start, only for the Swans to reel them in with Tom Papley kicking the match-winning goal with about a minute to go.

The Cats had the chance to pull one back right on the death, only for Cameron’s mark metres out from goal not to be paid as it was deemed that the ball hadn’t travelled the required 15 metres for it to be paid, a decision the umpiring department later admitted was incorrect.

Of course, no one will ever forget the 2005 semi-final between the sides, when Nick Davis booted four final quarter goals to get the Swans out of trouble, including that famous major on the run with less than ten seconds remaining.

In a major commercial and financial boost for the Sydney Swans, this will be their first SCG home match to be played without a restricted crowd capacity since 2019, with a crowd of over 30,000 expected to see Buddy shoot for history.

Ever since he arrived in Sydney in rather controversial circumstances at the end of the 2013 season, the Swans have been the hottest ticket in town, with a Friday night game against Essendon at the SCG in 2014 outdrawing two NRL matches played on the same evening in Sydney.

For the record, Buddy actually missed that match due to injury.

As was the case then, there are also two NRL matches being played in the Harbour City on the same evening as the Swans vs Cats match, with the Wests Tigers facing the Warriors in Campbelltown and the Rabbitohs taking on the Roosters at Accor Stadium.

But while it will be the Swans’ first match back at home since June 11 last year, it will actually be the first match at the ground since the Queen’s Birthday match between Melbourne and Collingwood, which was shifted to the ground due to a COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria.

We can only imagine the scenes that could unfold if Buddy brings up his 1000th career goal, and potentially how long play could be held up for if the fans flood the ground to mob and congratulate him as expected.