Lance Franklin to become a Swan

[Adelaide Swan]

One thing is certain, Buddy is the biggest football star to come to Sydney since Dwight York played for Sydney FC in 2005.

Dwight York played hard on the field, and was superb of the field in Potts Point!

I expect Buddy to give the Swans on field power, but also off field cudos. Danny Wielder will have Buddy in his pages and will bring more supporters to the Swans!

I don't want Buddy here to be a monk!

Alessandro Del Piero says hello.

In all seriousness, the bleating from the media south of the border and from fans of Victorian clubs confirm what I have long suspected.

They are jealous of our success and the how tightly knit our club is and with the acquisitions of Tippett and now Buddy, they are genuinely scared of us being an AFL superpower.

Fans down south puff their chests proudly at the fact that we have a national competition as long as the Victorian clubs are winning and interstate clubs like us win nothing.

In saying that having read some of the comments on our official FB page from so called Swans supporters, I am absolutely disgusted at the attitude of some of our supporters.

Anyone who can seriously say they'll switch to GWS or forfeit their membership if we sign Buddy Franklin, my message for you is to bugger off now.

I am sure we all remember the issues that Tony Lockett and Barry Hall had before they pulled on the red and white, well guess what, Lockett kicked us into our first Grand Final in almost half a century and Barry Hall became our first premiership captain in over 7 decades.

Buddy Franklin may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the guy is one of the best players in the competition and if you can seriously tell me he isn't welcome at our club, then sorry you aren't true Swans supporters.

This Bloods culture nonsense has to stop as well.

I am sick and tired of being our club being peddled as the underdog

Getting Franklin is confirming what supporters of Victorian clubs are scared @@@@less of.

We are on the verge of being a superpower of the game and the Vics can't handle it.

John Longmire may well be the man to turn Buddy Franklin from an erratic star to on the straight and narrow and be one of the greatest players to ever pull on the red and white.

[Meg]

Free agency is really jacking up the price tag on players. In a few years time Buddy's contract will be looking a bargain. We'll all be wondering how he came so cheap.

You could be right. I have read that Brisbane had to renegotiate Alistair Lynch's salary some time into his 10 year contract (the first multi year contract put together by Andrew Ireland) because he was after some years being underpaid compared with other top players.

[magic.merkin]

I still don't think having 5-6 mature guns will cover 10-12 young soft recruits. Its a brute of game, let alone it takes years to get the required tank. This aint the NBA who can get away with 2-3 stars, some vets and young talent.

[stellation]

This made me chuckle. I noted it went out on social media with #proudlysilly

http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/news/2013-10-03/gman-resigns

[Triple B]

In saying that having read some of the comments on our official FB page from so called Swans supporters, I am absolutely disgusted at the attitude of some of our supporters.

Lol @ FB fans.

After a long line of mindless posts to a Swans FB status a few days ago I posted 'So many replies, so few with a clue'. It got a dozen likes almost immediately by like minded Swans fans who I imagine were just shaking their heads at the stupidity being posted.

- - - Updated - - -

This made me chuckle. I noted it went out on social media with #proudlysilly

http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/news/201...3/gman-resigns

That's good. It appears from their light hearted dig at the situation they are not nearly as pissed with us over Buddy as a Collingwood or Carlton would be.

[Matt80]

I still don't think having 5-6 mature guns will cover 10-12 young soft recruits. Its a brute of game, let alone it takes years to get the required tank. This aint the NBA who can get away with 2-3 stars, some vets and young talent.

Imagine you built a superstar team of free agents like Franklin, Goodes, Buckley, Cox, Michael Voss, Hird and Steve Silvani! They would take most of the salary cap. You would then have hardworking young players around them like Parker, Mitchell and Alex Johnson who would fill the remaining space. The team would also have marketing cudos. There would be no room for your middle tiers! These superstars would also drag the young guys up and you may have some young gun draft talent like Jegan Omera, who don't cost much early in their careers!

[Primmy]

This made me chuckle. I noted it went out on social media with #proudlysilly

http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/news/201...3/gman-resigns

Yes, isn't it brilliant! Just about puts everything into context!!
How on earth are we going to maintain the rivalry when they come up with something that so tickles our funny bones!!

- - - Updated - - -

This made me chuckle. I noted it went out on social media with #proudlysilly

http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/news/201...3/gman-resigns

Yes, isn't it brilliant! Just about puts everything into context!!
How on earth are we going to maintain the rivalry when they come up with something that so tickles our funny bones!!

[Bloodthirsty]

Imagine you built a superstar team of free agents like Franklin, Goodes, Buckley, Cox, Michael Voss, Hird and Steve Silvani! They would take most of the salary cap. You would then have hardworking young players around them like Parker, Mitchell and Alex Johnson who would fill the remaining space. The team would also have marketing cudos. There would be no room for your middle tiers! These superstars would also drag the young guys up and you may have some young gun draft talent like Jegan Omera, who don't cost much early in their careers!

The reality will be though that when those younger players become free agents, the best will get picked up on huge offers elsewhere and the original club won't have enough cap space to retain them. So perhaps it will be the end of cohesive lists with longevity and one-club players.

This would also lead to treating trades separately between the young players and the big-money stars - ie. trade stars with stars and fillers with fillers in order to manage the cap.

- - - Updated - - -

Alessandro Del Piero says hello.

In all seriousness, the bleating from the media south of the border and from fans of Victorian clubs confirm what I have long suspected.

They are jealous of our success and the how tightly knit our club is and with the acquisitions of Tippett and now Buddy, they are genuinely scared of us being an AFL superpower.

Fans down south puff their chests proudly at the fact that we have a national competition as long as the Victorian clubs are winning and interstate clubs like us win nothing.

In saying that having read some of the comments on our official FB page from so called Swans supporters, I am absolutely disgusted at the attitude of some of our supporters.

Anyone who can seriously say they'll switch to GWS or forfeit their membership if we sign Buddy Franklin, my message for you is to bugger off now.

I am sure we all remember the issues that Tony Lockett and Barry Hall had before they pulled on the red and white, well guess what, Lockett kicked us into our first Grand Final in almost half a century and Barry Hall became our first premiership captain in over 7 decades.

Buddy Franklin may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the guy is one of the best players in the competition and if you can seriously tell me he isn't welcome at our club, then sorry you aren't true Swans supporters.

This Bloods culture nonsense has to stop as well.

I am sick and tired of being our club being peddled as the underdog

Getting Franklin is confirming what supporters of Victorian clubs are scared @@@@less of.

We are on the verge of being a superpower of the game and the Vics can't handle it.

John Longmire may well be the man to turn Buddy Franklin from an erratic star to on the straight and narrow and be one of the greatest players to ever pull on the red and white.

You are spot on King Roosy. I can't fathom a Swans fan having a problem with the Franklin recruit. And yes, I can't wait to see the fear in the eyes of the Victorians. Someone should inform them that neither Tippett or Buddy is Victorian.

[bloodsbigot]

On Bob Skilton's comments; he also thought Richard Colless was a bad idea.

He's club royalty, but he's not always right.

[Matt80]

Free agency is an exciting initiative, but if you look at the Free agents so far this year you have Franklin, Betts, Dale Thomas and Colin Silvia who are all above average AFL players.

When is the little guy going to benefit from free agency.

I think the era will also see some very exciting deals, for example if I was GWS I would sign Jeremy Cameron to a 12 year, 11 million dollar deal, so that you will not lose him to free agency when he is 26.

[Nico]

I see the signing of Buddy very simply: we are here to win flags. If our window is wide open right now, which it is, then it places us right in the mix once again. Our club has hardly missed a recruiting beat in the last decade. To speculate about his long term signing is just that. Who knows how rules on player movement might change in years to come. Who knows who might emerge from the ranks or recruited in the next few years to be stars for us. Now is the time and our club is fantastically aggresive in their endevour to stay at the top for our supporters.

[Meg]

Re free agency, I found it interesting to re-read Mike Pyke's comments from about 18 months ago. Coming from a North American professional sports background Mike was used to the free agency concept. He certainly supported it from a player's perspective but also thought astute clubs could make it work for them as well.

http://m.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/free-agency-not-all-doom-pyke-20120608-201q0.html

[Industrial Fan]

Blame the AFL for setting up a crap free agency system. The fact that a buying club pays nothing in draft terms is stupid.

We could have (in theory) got Tippett last year, and then traded him this year for a top pick. Then add Franklin at no cost so we then have added two of the best players in the comp to our list, lost one and added a top 10 pick. Only cost is salary cap for this year. Just dumb.

The AFL should cite themselves for draft tampering as they've ruined their own system.

[DK_]

On Bob Skilton's comments; he also thought Richard Colless was a bad idea.

He's club royalty, but he's not always right.

If I remember my history well, he also thought the move to Sydney was a bad idea (though it did look like he was right for a good while there)

[ShockOfHair]

Pickering says Buddy chose the Swans because he wanted to play finals.
Media harassment forced Buddy to Sydney: Manager - AFL.com.au

I find this bit interesting:

He was confident the star forward would play all nine years of the deal.

"His first couple of years he'll be getting less money than he's getting at Hawthorn now," Pickering said.

"If he decides after seven or eight years to retire, he doesn't get the money. Simple as that."



That's good to know. If ever we want to get rid of him a few trips to Canberra should prompt his retirement.