Sydney — the city and the club — has become Franklin’s home and today former Swans chairman Richard Colless lays bare the clandestine negotiations that landed Franklin’s prized signature in 2013. | Andrew Webster
Fair enough, too, because Franklin looked like a greased pig, his arms shimmering under the SCG lights. Franklin laughed off the gesture then played all over Maynard as the Swans’ snuck home by a point, setting up a grand final showdown with Geelong at the MCG on Saturday.
The Great Buddy can be a slippery character: as a player, roaming the field and pushing away defenders at will; as an aloof celebrity, rarely granting interviews outside of what’s required under the game’s media policy; and, certainly, as a star recruit, negotiating with the Swans throughout 2013 while keeping Hawthorn in the dark and stringing along GWS and the AFL before announcing his nine-year, $10 million mega-deal to jump from the fishbowl of Melbourne into the full schooner glass of Sydney. Franklin announced on Monday he would play on in 2023 and took great delight in referencing the “knockers” who doubted whether he would fulfil his monster contract.“One more” declared the Swans media release, although the smart money is on “two more”. It won’t surprise if Franklin is stalking the goal square with a Zimmer frame beyond that, his once breakable body now seemingly unbreakable.Richard Colless lays bare the clandestine negotiations that landed Franklin’s prized signature in 2013, including how the AFL had actively tried to sign the champion full-forward for the fledgling GWS Giants.“Lance was going to do one of two things: stay at Hawthorn or play with the Swans,” Colless says. “The AFL, in breach of all the rules they had just created in relation to free agency, were dealing with Lance and his manager directly, trying to lure him to GWS. The AFL felt they had superior negotiating clout and thought that’s where he should go because they were desperate to fast-track GWS’s success. “It was a nonsense and it remains so. If you think the best players of all time are going to bottom clubs to get paid more money, you’re out of touch with world sport. He just wasn’t going there.”Andrew IrelandJohn LongmireFranklin had one year to run on his deal with Hawthorn and, in his mind, he had two options: stay at the Hawks and burn under the Melbourne spotlight, reading daily updates about his so-called “rockstar lifestyle” — or move to the Swans. Ireland then phoned Colless, whose first reaction was: “He’s a once-in-a-generation player. Sign him.” “It’s important this is understood: we didn’t instigate it,” Colless says. “We knew nothing about it until Lance’s manager, Liam Pickering, who had been best man at John’s wedding, approached Andrew Ireland.”With the wheels in motion, Franklin and the Swans continued their discussions — including a medical — throughout the 2013 season, although few people knew about it. It remains one of the true miracles of modern football that the story never got out. One reporter had wind of it but couldn’t stand it up. Franklin’s former Hawthorn teammates have recently said they knew something was afoot because he was sneaking off to take phone calls away from the group and giving away little when he returned. “The challenge was, ‘How do you sit on this for six months?’” Colless continues. “It says an enormous amount about our club that it did not get out. Not a hint of it. The AFL certainly had no awareness of it.” That’s clear because the mothership was pushing hard all year for Franklin to sign with the Giants, giving the fledgling franchise the sugar hit it desperately needed. This was the AFL’s first year of free agency, which allows top-25 players in the eighth season of their time at a club to move on. Franklin was a restricted free agent, which meant Hawthorn had the option to match the Swans’ offer. “We took a view that they [Hawthorn] wouldn’t entertain a nine-year contract,” Colless says. “Money wasn’t the issue — but the term of the contract was. And that proved to be the case.” Colless says there was very little pushback internally about the length of the deal. Any concerns about Franklin’s off-field reputation? “Not that I’m aware,” he says. “You might know more than I do, but I don’t think that’s ever been an issue. He’s been such an easy guy to manage.” When the deal was announced 10 days after Franklin and Hawthorn beat Fremantle in the grand final, the Giants were furious. “We’ve been led down the garden path,” GWS chief executiveFormer Swans chairman Richard Colless Says Colless: “David might be showing a hint of naivety. All I know is that it was made very clear there were no other options that were being considered. If GWS or the AFL were led to believe he was a live option, they might’ve been reading more into and believed their own capabilities beyond what they actually were. “After the deal was confirmed, I had the pleasure of ringing three senior people at the AFL — only one called me back — who said that wasn’t what the free agency agreement is all about, which is not correct.”In 2014, he crashed the Land Rover of future wifeIn late 2015, he stepped away from the game for an indefinite period because of mental health issues, sparking wild and unfounded speculation about what was really at play when, in reality, nobody really knew. He’s struggled at times with injuries and, in 2020, missed an entire season. That’s when the knockers knocked loudest. Each time, the Swans wrapped their arms around Franklin and his family, such is the strength of the club when it comes to protecting their own. He’s given so much to Swans but now, nine years down the track, he can provide the ultimate return on their investment.What chance he won’t let this one slip away?The sleeping giant of international rugby league just rolled over, glanced at the alarm clock and stretched out its arms.’s shock decision to play for Samoa and not Australia at next month’s World Cup has been met with typical ripostes.Roosters winger Joseph Suaalii.Under the current eligibility rules, he can do both. Samoa is a tier-two country, meaning he and the likes of
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