Lance Franklin to become a Swan

[Meg]

Jono, members got an e-mail yesterday.

Huh? I'm a member and I haven't received an email. I've read the advice on the Swans' website but it wasn't sent to me.

[dimelb]

While I am now reasonably happy to see Buddy arriving, and resigned to seeing other players go, I definitely want to keep Sam Reid, especially if there is going to be an adjustment to the two ruckmen policy that has served us so well. I see him as playing down back as well as forwards and with a bit more bulk could easily do the fill-in role after LRT retires.

[mcs]

Great interview with Ireland on SEN this morning. Explaining the contract is heavily front loaded and a larger part part of it is lumped in the marketing cap (COLA doesn't apply to this amount) as opposed to the TPP cap. He also said no 3rd party deals were factored in. (Good old Eddie winding up the masses on 360 last night "confusing" Cordy's comments to have come from Ireland.)

He went on to say that they were approached at the same time as Tippet deal was occurring. But denied him based on Tippet. Then as the year rolled on and our list shaped up (Mummy and White I supposed) and Buddy approached them again, they started to put a deal together.

He also said COLA is only a problem when we are winning and when we are aggressive for quality players. We are cheered and no one bats an eye when we turn scraps from other clubs into gold or are mediocre.

I feel slightly better about it all.

Could care less about the other clubs whinging. They signed off on it, and i'd love to have the entire equalisation structure reviewed. I just can't stand us being called cheats. We are operating within our rules, we are just good at it.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and He said Buddy wanted out of Melbourne above all else (fish bowl, car accident), loved Hawthorn and was said he had to leave.

I guess the club will use Goodes/ROK/LRT wages when they retire to cover re-contract negotiations. Then as that runs out Buddy's contracts major $'s will be thinning out to his back end.

That fits in with what I've heard about the Tippett setup as well, with it being very heavily front loaded in year 1, and more reasonable across the rest. Which to me just says we are exceptionally clever at managing our cap. I.e. this year was when we would have the maximum number of veterans we will have for a while, therefore we lumped a huge amounts of Tippett salaray in there. Thus giving us space, when combined with other players leaving, to fit Buddy in. I still think the 9 year contract is absurd - but if for instance we are paying say 7.5 million of that out over the first five seasons (i.e. the five we expect to have him playing playing at his peak), with a lot of that in the first 3 years (say 5-5.5 million), then our actual liability for the late part of the contract is regoing to be small. It could be that on average in the last 3 or 4 years of the contract, he might actually be on only 300 or 400K a season - which if Buddy ends up stuffed and unable to play, is a small, but very manageable impost on our cap (and in an era of increasing salary cap's every year, pretty irrelevant). It'll take some damn clever work going forward to manage our cap going forward as players develop and we need to retain people, but the last few years have shown that we are exceptionally good at managing our cap successfully, and keeping the players we want to keep.

What I find funny about the other clubs whines is that the COLA argument is completely irrelevant to Buddy. If we are applying it correctly, as I fully expect we are and Ireland has said, then all the COLA being removed will do is take 9.8% or whatever the figure is away from each players final pay packet. It will not change their actual contracted amount at all, because it is paid outside of the contracted amount as a 'top up'.

[jono2707]

Jono, members got an e-mail yesterday.

Got it at work this morning - have already forwarded it to a Hawks supporter under the comment "Seems legit".

I would like some sort of communication from the club about why they think 9 years is appropriate and that they've considered the flow on effects that this deal will have on the club and our list over the next 9 years. Yesterday's email of course didn't say much.

[dimelb]

Huh? I'm a member and I haven't received an email. I've read the advice on the Swans' website but it wasn't sent to me.

Meg, this is how it came to us. Not sure now who else got it.

http://view.tmclient.ticketmaster.com/?j=fec9157470640774&m=fe9615707d640c7876&ls=fdf71571746d037b71167373&l=fefe1679746005&s=fe2d11717d6006797c1471&jb=ffcc17&ju=fe8e13797d60047974&camefrom=EMCL_145039_7984041&r=0

[bloodbrother]

as a swans lover I am absolutely filthy at this decision, not only have that paid an exorbitant heavily weighted back end deal to get this bloke, it may very well risk our list in future years if he decides to retire early... I am yet to be convinced that this guy is a swans player with team first ethos..i would have much rather kept mummy and bolstered our defence with a smart buy.. we all saw what happened when tippett came into the team ..oh gee' lets bomb it long' now this will be even worse...what about the midfielders doing all the grunt work ,how will they feel about two blokes up the front getting all the money and the cred ..is this really swans culture?? really at a loss right now where the club is headed ,a 9 year deal for a 26 yo really ??? back end include a walking frame ??

[magic.merkin]

Yeah I got my members email yesterday 18:57

[mcs]

The BIG thing that leaps out at me is the fear in Victoria. They have come to the conclusion at last that they are no longer the centre of the AFL universe, and they are hopping mad about it.

that is the most enjoyable bit of this all. All the interstate clubs are exceptionally envious as well of our ability to hog the headlines

[BillyRayCypress]

Huh? I'm a member and I haven't received an email. I've read the advice on the Swans' website but it wasn't sent to me.

Check your spam and trash files. I received mine yesterday as well.

[Dosser]

I have been chuckling whenever I think of the Swans recruiters who must have, at various times over the last 12 months, been giggling when they thought of the media explosion and Eddie's face when the story broke. I can just imagine them in a meeting over the weekend when they all drew a collective deep breath and said 'OK, let's push the button now.' Well done to the lot of them and they must be grinning like Cheshire Cats right now.
On another topic, living in Melb means you get to hear all day, every day that we must now lose the COLA and there must be 'equalisation' of the payments. Can I suggest that this would mean that AFL players should also pool any money they make for advertising/promotion to have it distributed evenly across all players? The reason I say this is because if you are a star AFL player in Melbourne, you can reasonably expect to earn between 20-80% more than your player payments through endorsements, etc however in Sydney that money goes to League players. To pay Sydney players an extra 9.8% COLA is now dwarfed by what happens in Melbourne. To have the money pooled and distributed is true equalisation - so they need to be careful what they ask for.

[i'm-uninformed2]

There is so much brilliance to this, beyond the obvious.

Think about what it means for the rest of our list development over the next five years.

In 2012 we won a flag with a makeshift forward line. Now that's covered.

It means we can push Sam back to defence, where we didn't have much coming through in key positions and were one injury to Reg or Ted away from disaster. Plus we've got Alex J coming back. Back line covered.

LRT can still play swing and with Tippett, back up ruck with the limit on rotations. That's covered (though will admit an injury to Pyke would hurt).

We've got a deep midfield. Covered.

We've got good youngsters in a variety of areas - BJ as a small forward, Membrey as a medium tall, Towers for extra pace, etc etc.

Rohan and Jetta should both be right to give us that line break we lacked this year.

So, it gives us the freedom to now go out and recruit very specifically (ie Mal's eventual replacement for example, another developing ruck) and be patient with them.

If the club has been as clever and diligent as I hope in managing the longterm financials of this, it's a cracker of a coup in more ways than one.

[Dosser]

And another added bit of brilliance - we will be swapping White, Mumford and maybe one other to allow for room in our cap, and at the same time should be getting reasonable draft picks in return. We gain Buddy and good draft picks - not a bad piece of work.

[Zlatorog]

Here's my take on it. As others have already suggested in their posts that this must be a marketing step by the club to attract more members and the media (in Sydney not Melbourne). Because AFL is doing such a lousy job to promote their own game here (even attempts with GWS and Sheeds didn't work out) not only in newspapers but also on Ch 7 where news about the Swans and GWS are always rating behind rugby and other sports. Every team needs a super star and obviously Tippet didn't deliver, so Buddy might.
Also, he might be groomed as a replacement for Goodes. I hope he can meet those expectations.

[BillyRayCypress]

I have been chuckling whenever I think of the Swans recruiters who must have, at various times over the last 12 months, been giggling when they thought of the media explosion and Eddie's face when the story broke. I can just imagine them in a meeting over the weekend when they all drew a collective deep breath and said 'OK, let's push the button now.' Well done to the lot of them and they must be grinning like Cheshire Cats right now.

That is an interesting point to think about.

Kennett is taking advantage of the Beyond Blue Counselling services today.

Malthouse is looking for a slow Ox to kick.

Eddie is down at AFL HQ to try to get them to have Buddy go to the Western Builldogs because we can't lose any Victorian Clubs.

GWS is trying to save face so they don't look so absolutely stupid. Failing badly. Perhaps they can recruit one of the Wiggles. Wake up Dan !!!

Swans to counter the demise of the Cola by having their players eat in local soup kitchens and shopping at Vinnies. Stretcher beds to be seat up under the Brewongle stand to house new future players.

[joemoore12]

Absolute genius from our mighty club! A considered, calculated move that has completely blindsided the AFL, Giants and the Hawks.

The meltdown in Melbourne has been gold! We have shown that we are ruthless about winning flags. The side that we will put out next year will be quick, dangerous and versatile.

Any Swans fans who are complaining about us signing one of the absolute guns of the competition, need to have faith in our outstanding football department. They have shown time and time again that they know exactly what they are doing and I trust them to make the best decisions for our club.

Supporters of opposition clubs are envious of the way our club operates and we should be extremely proud of our club for pulling this off!