Franklin -The Movie

[Mr Magoo]

Agree Liz - Lockett was a great goal kicker but a thug who was 29 when he landed at Sydney. Everything was soon forgotten when he performed on the park.

The money should be irrelevant, he is clearly an elite player of the competition who will bring people through the gates.

What questions really surround their character - Buddy likes to enjoy the trappings of being a celebrity and has beautiful girlfriends. Not aware of any suggestion of drugs , drink driving, failing to train properly? Tippett just wanted to get out of Adelaide - who can blame him for that.

[swantastic]

i agree with GWS bad move to much money to long a contract....puts other players noses out of joint

[magic.merkin]

i agree with GWS bad move to much money to long a contract....puts other players noses out of joint

the money and the contract length go hand in hand to secure him and prevent others. smaller contract others get close to matching or bettering in the short term.

Noses out of joint? They must be halfwits to sign back up with us since his signing?

[magic.merkin]

Agree Liz - Lockett was a great goal kicker but a thug who was 29 when he landed at Sydney. Everything was soon forgotten when he performed on the park.

The money should be irrelevant, he is clearly an elite player of the competition who will bring people through the gates.

What questions really surround their character - Buddy likes to enjoy the trappings of being a celebrity and has beautiful girlfriends. Not aware of any suggestion of drugs , drink driving, failing to train properly? Tippett just wanted to get out of Adelaide - who can blame him for that.

Absolutely. I'm not sure why some are being precious about the situation, we've done it before and i hope we do it again. It's a competition not a social game.

I believe we have acted on the limits of reason, hopefully backed by great judgment and bookkeeping. Sure we developed our own prior, we had to after our mid 00's success (which was on the back of some imported stars). We got the job done at least a year ahead of schedule in 2012, this was done with tailing off Goodes, Bolton, Okeefe etc. Forward targets after Goodes....? How many hadn't worked out?

2013 was the classic tale of football. We were even more so in our window of a flag chance, crueled by injuries and it slips through our fingers. This year? Who knows. You have to take your chances and do whatever it takes to be on top (be it rebuild or poach depending on your circumstances).

As long as we aren't performing illegal deeds; paying outside the system, taking drugs etc and are just being ruthless pricks on and off the field for success within the rules i am happy

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Is it really any different to recruiting Lockett (who didn't even really want to come to Sydney but realised it was his only choice after cutting ties with the Stains and after the Pies and Tigers rejected him) or Hall? How about the recruitment of Everitt (senior)?

Liz, I honestly don't know what the difference is - I just have a feeling of disquiet which I don't seem able to shake.

[Plugger46]

i agree with GWS bad move to much money to long a contract....puts other players noses out of joint

I've heard that a few times. I reckon it's complete crap.

Ultimately players want to be in successful teams. Elite players help you be successful. They also wanted Free Agency - this is it!

[Ludwig]

Liz, I honestly don't know what the difference is - I just have a feeling of disquiet which I don't seem able to shake.

It's only natural to feel that way. We put a lot of eggs in the Buddy basket, so it's really important to our success that he delivers. Nothing to do but hang on for the ride and hope it goes well.

[liz]

Liz, I honestly don't know what the difference is - I just have a feeling of disquiet which I don't seem able to shake.

The length of the contract is certainly different and clearly there is a risk of a negative impact on our salary cap if he isn't able to contribute for a large portion of those 9 years.

The fact that in 1994 we were a desperate club in desperate need of some onfield credibility and profile while in 2012/3 we were not is another difference. We needed Plugger in a way we didn't really need Franklin, even though the extent to and speed with which Plugger raised the profile of the club in Sydney couldn't have been anticipated, even by Barassi and Joseph.

I was very pissed off when I first heard the news, calmed down later that evening when I read comments from the club and watched the media discussion, and have gradually become quite enthusiastic about having Buddy on the team. The sealer for me was the roar that went up around the Swans-dominated crowd at the round 1 game when he took that mark from Jetts and kicked a trade-mark goal. That was reminiscent of the old Plugger days.

[Matt80]

The length of the contract is certainly different and clearly there is a risk of a negative impact on our salary cap if he isn't able to contribute for a large portion of those 9 years.

The fact that in 1994 we were a desperate club in desperate need of some onfield credibility and profile while in 2012/3 we were not is another difference. We needed Plugger in a way we didn't really need Franklin, even though the extent to and speed with which Plugger raised the profile of the club in Sydney couldn't have been anticipated, even by Barassi and Joseph.

I was very pissed off when I first heard the news, calmed down later that evening when I read comments from the club and watched the media discussion, and have gradually become quite enthusiastic about having Buddy on the team. The sealer for me was the roar that went up around the Swans-dominated crowd at the round 1 game when he took that mark from Jetts and kicked a trade-mark goal. That was reminiscent of the old Plugger days.

Superb again Liz. Buddy has also become the face of the club. It used to be Barry Hall / Adam Goodes for the previous decade.

I'm not sure why we don't see Adam as much anymore.

Even though a lot of people don't like the Buddy Bondi Beach stories, this exposure has driven the Swans membership numbers to record levels!

[Meg]

By the way, one of the 'coups' GWS supposedly pulled off in revenge for the Swans recruiting Franklin was their recruitment of Jed Lamb from the Swans. I note that again this week Lamb is not named in the GWS senior team. If the report is true that Lamb's GWS contract is worth almost $1 million over 3 years, then that is a lot of money to play in their reserves team.

[Swanny40519]

I had a call from my 70yo uncle last night.. He has been an AFL lover and umpire since the 50's.. He grew up in Sydneys west and has supported the Swans since they moved up to Sydney. He called to tell me that he is leaving the Swans for GWS. That the whole Buddy deal is very un-Swans like. I couldn't argue. I have been on the fence about the whole thing but am starting to think why the $%^ did we do it.. If Buddy wanted to play for us why the hell did we have to pay the ridiculous money we did.. Give him a 3 year contract like is sensible.. I can see wilderness years to come.. I just hope the Swans can make some hay in the meantime........

Wow after supporting one of the best teams in the AFL over the past decade your uncle is going to support the "midgets" just because of one player.

What about all the money the Midgets have wasted - $4 million on Izzy's failed experiment, $1 million per year for player Scully (and a bit more for his father), plus other over the top payments for players like Davis.

Any true Swans supporter knows that we had to improve our team to compete with the power clubs like Geelong, Hawthorn, Collingwood. Despite all the denials from GWS they really believed Franklin was going to them and when the Swans pulled out the deal they were really upset they did not get what they wanted.

[Captain]

I have a great deal of sympathy for the old main. I have also been a Swan suppoter for a long time, While I may not be capable of switching teams, I'm certainly not happy with things. I liked the way the swans built a team in the last decade rather than trying to buy one. Yes i realise just how many imports there were in the 05 and 12 premierships - but somehow the recruitment of DirtyKurt, then Buddy seems different. whether its their huge paychecks or just the questions surrounding their character i dont know. it just seems the sort of thing despicable win at all costs teams like Carlton or Collingwood would do (usually at our expense).

I think you will find the situation this time is no different to when we recruited Hall and Plugger on big money. It is just now that we have a huge increase in media scrutiny of us, through both the internet and the fact we have won 2 flags.

[Matt80]

The length of the contract is certainly different and clearly there is a risk of a negative impact on our salary cap if he isn't able to contribute for a large portion of those 9 years.



The fact that in 1994 we were a desperate club in desperate need of some onfield credibility and profile while in 2012/3 we were not is another difference. We needed Plugger in a way we didn't really need Franklin, even though the extent to and speed with which Plugger raised the profile of the club in Sydney couldn't have been anticipated, even by Barassi and Joseph.

I was very pissed off when I first heard the news, calmed down later that evening when I read comments from the club and watched the media discussion, and have gradually become quite enthusiastic about having Buddy on the team. The sealer for me was the roar that went up around the Swans-dominated crowd at the round 1 game when he took that mark from Jetts and kicked a trade-mark goal. That was reminiscent of the old Plugger days.

By the way, one of the 'coups' GWS supposedly pulled off in revenge for the Swans recruiting Franklin was their recruitment of Jed Lamb from the Swans. I note that again this week Lamb is not named in the GWS senior team. If the report is true that Lamb's GWS contract is worth almost $1 million over 3 years, then that is a lot of money to play in their reserves team.

The raw numbers are simple. Jed Lamb and Shane Mumford are earning close to million dollars a year between them to play at GWS. We have Franklin for a similar amount of money in 2014.

I would take Franklin for those two every day of the week. The membership drive would not have been as strong without Franklin!

[erica]

I do wonder how many of our new members joined because of Franklin. A lot of assumptions are being made about this. Perhaps the new members joined because of Adam Goodes being named as Australian of the Year?

How would we ever know for sure? I doubt the Club asks each new member why they signed up.

[Matt80]

The length of the contract is certainly different and clearly there is a risk of a negative impact on our salary cap if he isn't able to contribute for a large portion of those 9 years.

The fact that in 1994 we were a desperate club in desperate need of some onfield credibility and profile while in 2012/3 we were not is another difference. We needed Plugger in a way we didn't really need Franklin, even though the extent to and speed with which Plugger raised the profile of the club in Sydney couldn't have been anticipated, even by Barassi and Joseph.

I was very pissed off when I first heard the news, calmed down later that evening when I read comments from the club and watched the media discussion, and have gradually become quite enthusiastic about having Buddy on the team. The sealer for me was the roar that went up around the Swans-dominated crowd at the round 1 game when he took that mark from Jetts and kicked a trade-mark goal. That was reminiscent of the old Plugger days.

By the way, one of the 'coups' GWS supposedly pulled off in revenge for the Swans recruiting Franklin was their recruitment of Jed Lamb from the Swans. I note that again this week Lamb is not named in the GWS senior team. If the report is true that Lamb's GWS contract is worth almost $1 million over 3 years, then that is a lot of money to play in their reserves team.

I do wonder how many of our new members joined because of Franklin. A lot of assumptions are being made about this. Perhaps the new members joined because of Adam Goodes being named as Australian of the Year?

How would we ever know for sure? I doubt the Club asks each new member why they signed up.

The club would have the demographic data of the new members, and would be drawing their own insights and conclusions. This information will not be released to the public. Josh Kennedy thinks that Buddy has had an impact on membership numbers so he may be across the numbers.

I would guess that there would be a spike in membership numbers for single females aged 21 - 35 living in the Eastern Suburbs, who are excited about Buddy being in Sydney!