Lance Franklin to become a Swan

[Ludwig]

Running a league like the AFL is a complex and difficult task, especially if you're trying to run a balanced competition.

-Sometimes well managed clubs, like the Swans, get scorned for their success.
-Sometimes poorly managed clubs, like the Demons, are compensated for their failures.
-Sometimes success stories, like the Brisbane Lions, are brought down by a combination of poor management and withdrawal of the support that made them a success.

Every year the equation changes, which adds to the difficulty. Now we are seen by many in Melbourne as rorting the system because they are isolating one factor, the COLA, that helped keep the Swans above water and opened the door to the most important market for the long-term success of the league, all the clubs and the players.

I hope the AFL are not so stupid as to kill off the Sydney market after putting so much time and money into it, maybe having to readdress the same issues 10 years down the road.

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Running a league like the AFL is a complex and difficult task, especially if you're trying to run a balanced competition.

-Sometimes well managed clubs, like the Swans, get scorned for their success.
-Sometimes poorly managed clubs, like the Demons, are compensated for their failures.
-Sometimes success stories, like the Brisbane Lions, are brought down by a combination of poor management and withdrawal of the support that made them a success.

Every year the equation changes, which adds to the difficulty. Now we are seen by many in Melbourne as rorting the system because they are isolating one factor, the COLA, that helped keep the Swans above water and opened the door to the most important market for the long-term success of the league, all the clubs and the players.

I hope the AFL are not so stupid as to kill off the Sydney market after putting so much time and money into it, maybe having to readdress the same issues 10 years down the road.

[dimelb]

Ludwig, thanks for posting the Rebecca Wilson article. Short and pungent.

[Meg]

Running a league like the AFL is a complex and difficult task, especially if you're trying to run a balanced competition.

-Sometimes well managed clubs, like the Swans, get scorned for their success.
-Sometimes poorly managed clubs, like the Demons, are compensated for their failures.
-Sometimes success stories, like the Brisbane Lions, are brought down by a combination of poor management and withdrawal of the support that made them a success.

Every year the equation changes, which adds to the difficulty. Now we are seen by many in Melbourne as rorting the system because they are isolating one factor, the COLA, that helped keep the Swans above water and opened the door to the most important market for the long-term success of the league, all the clubs and the players.

I hope the AFL are not so stupid as to kill off the Sydney market after putting so much time and money into it, maybe having to readdress the same issues 10 years down the road.

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Running a league like the AFL is a complex and difficult task, especially if you're trying to run a balanced competition.

-Sometimes well managed clubs, like the Swans, get scorned for their success.
-Sometimes poorly managed clubs, like the Demons, are compensated for their failures.
-Sometimes success stories, like the Brisbane Lions, are brought down by a combination of poor management and withdrawal of the support that made them a success.

Every year the equation changes, which adds to the difficulty. Now we are seen by many in Melbourne as rorting the system because they are isolating one factor, the COLA, that helped keep the Swans above water and opened the door to the most important market for the long-term success of the league, all the clubs and the players.

I hope the AFL are not so stupid as to kill off the Sydney market after putting so much time and money into it, maybe having to readdress the same issues 10 years down the road.

Very well put Ludwig. I fear the COLA will be scrapped in a knee-jerk response to the current near hysteria from other clubs. It should instead be reviewed rationally within the scope of the total equalisation debate. I expect that both Brisbane and Sydney still need some form of location allowance while the AFL market remains the lesser cousin to NRL in these cities.

[Auntie.Gerald]

as I keep saying these events were one in a million - COLA has a minimal effect as it truly is only a neutraliser of $ not a benefit for the Swans........year by year we have be known as the envy is creating average players into champs.......Goodes, Jack, Kennedy etc etc and now we get our pay off by adding top of the tree players to our list

Tip wanting to come to the Swans and us wanting him and not having to give up much except half a season of his pay ie we pay he dont play .........plus being able to easily cope with his sal as we had last year, this year and the next couple of years a significantly ageing list needing to be revamped internally and externally !

Same again for Buddy.........he wanted to come to the swans which is simply amazing !.........amazing that he wanted to leave Melb and the Hawks.........amazing he didnt want to go to Freeo and back home.......and amazing us taking such a long term deal that places a high risk reward factor into the agreement for us..

Lets face it we are trying to peak right now.......2012 we achieved......2013 major injuries but came 4th......2014 and 2015 i have little doubt that we can set the pace........ we are primed and ready.......... just like Saints Geeelong Pies and Hawks have been the previous 7 or 8 seasons and now it appears Freeo have level jumped WC and Adelaide massively and jumped on the bandwagon of being GF contenders !

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as I keep saying these events were one in a million - COLA has a minimal effect as it truly is only a neutraliser of $ not a benefit for the Swans........year by year we have be known as the envy is creating average players into champs.......Goodes, Jack, Kennedy etc etc and now we get our pay off by adding top of the tree players to our list

Tip wanting to come to the Swans and us wanting him and not having to give up much except half a season of his pay ie we pay he dont play .........plus being able to easily cope with his sal as we had last year, this year and the next couple of years a significantly ageing list needing to be revamped internally and externally !

Same again for Buddy.........he wanted to come to the swans which is simply amazing !.........amazing that he wanted to leave Melb and the Hawks.........amazing he didnt want to go to Freeo and back home.......and amazing us taking such a long term deal that places a high risk reward factor into the agreement for us..

Lets face it we are trying to peak right now.......2012 we achieved......2013 major injuries but came 4th......2014 and 2015 i have little doubt that we can set the pace........ we are primed and ready.......... just like Saints Geeelong Pies and Hawks have been the previous 7 or 8 seasons and now it appears Freeo have level jumped WC and Adelaide massively and jumped on the bandwagon of being GF contenders !

[Primmy]

I have this feeling that someone will need to point out to the narks that stomping on the COLA is not going to stop the players from WANTING to come to the Swans. We are that good.

[Bloods05]

Finally we get an article on the AFL website that makes all the points about what great value Buddy is to us:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-05/buddy-brand-a-steal-for-swans

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And this one from Rebecca Wilson:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/sydney/story-fni5fan6-1226733158067

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And this one from Rebecca Wilson:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1226733158067

Reasonable article by Rebecca Wilson, but a bit too sneering and partisan for my taste. Calling Melbourne "Bleak City" is gratuitous, chauvinistic and silly. It is the home of this magnificent game, and a fabulous city in its own right. The essential point, that the Melbourne response has been hysterical, is a fair one.

[Auntie.Gerald]

http://www.sportsfan.com.au/sydneys-big-buddy-gamble/tabid/91/newsid/112631/default.aspx

another affirmative !

[BillyRayCypress]

Reasonable article by Rebecca Wilson, but a bit too sneering and partisan for my taste. Calling Melbourne "Bleak City" is gratuitous, chauvinistic and silly. It is the home of this magnificent game, and a fabulous city in its own right. The essential point, that the Melbourne response has been hysterical, is a fair one.

Rebecca Wilson's articles are usually not worth reading. Usually filled with many errors, I have doubted in the past whether she does any research. At times her articles seem that she has either used second hand information or just made things up.

Hasn't taken long for Danny Weidler to start writing about Buddy. Here, he breaks the "real" reason that Buddy chose Sydney over GWS. He could be right but going out to training at Hoonbush is not that far. It's much closer to the City than Hoonside.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Very well put Ludwig. I fear the COLA will be scrapped in a knee-jerk response to the current near hysteria from other clubs. It should instead be reviewed rationally within the scope of the total equalisation debate. I expect that both Brisbane and Sydney still need some form of location allowance while the AFL market remains the lesser cousin to NRL in these cities.

The AFL have been working to retain the COLA (hence Fat Andy & Co's midseason junket to the US with the club presidents). Whether this charm offensive was going to succeed in saving it, is now a moot point.
The Buddy defection seems certain to doom it.
Not that this will be a problem for Buddy, it'd be legally perilous for the AFL to try to strip the COLA from existing contracts. Future Swans contracts are another thing.

[Rusty1965]

Thanks for all the messages saying I was a complete twat when I said Buddy would be a Swan in July.... Cheer cheer the red and the white

[liz]

Hmmmm....that's your first post....

[BillyRayCypress]

Hmmmm....that's your first post....

[Go Swannies]

Hmmmm....that's your first post....

Game, set, match.

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And to note - and commend - some class from the Hawks. (I was overjoyed that Mummy was at Star on Friday - and sad that Mitch wasn't - but apparently he starts a job on Monday.)http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-05/no-boos-for-absent-buddy

[Jewels]

And to note - and commend - some class from the Hawks. (I was overjoyed that Mummy was at Star on Friday - and sad that Mitch wasn't - but apparently he starts a job on Monday.)No boos for absent Franklin at Hawks' best and fairest - AFL.com.au

Yep, in a season where so many clubs are treating their champions with disdain, The Hawks deserve a pat on the back. Buddy has been an out and out champion for them and it's good to see him acknowledged and treated as such.

[Primmy]

Lovely little piece written by Shane Crawford on telling his 7 yo son Charlie that Buddy was now playing for the Swans. Every parents nightmare, well handled and beautifully observed.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/tears-flow-and-friendships-are-tested-as-franklin-jumps-ship/story-fni5ezdm-1226733492995