Value of Lance Franklin trade to Sydney measured in more than premierships

The AFL was furious Lance Franklin was going to Sydney and not its new baby, the GWS Giants, but they reluctantly signed off on the mega-deal which had rival clubs sniggering.

One Melbourne club boss labelled it an “extraordinary risk” with derision thrown at the Swans about whether Buddy would be worth over $1 million in the final year of the deal at the age of 35.

The nine-year deal had been staggered to fit inside the Swans salary cap, increasing from a bargain basement $700,000 in the first two years, 2014 and 2015, to a maximum $1.5 million per season towards the end.

There was a precedent, with Alistair Lynch going from Fitzroy to Brisbane at the end of 1993 on a 10-year-deal worth around $2 million, which was big bucks back in those days. He played until he was 36 and in three consecutive flags.

Franklin didn’t play in any premierships with Sydney – they were runners-up in 2014, 2016 and 2022 during his era – but, like Lynch, he was still kicking around at 36 after adding on another year, to make it 10 seasons, once his mega-deal finished.

But this was one football transaction which can’t be purely measured in premierships as Buddy transcended what just happened on the field.

He took the baton from Tony ‘Plugger’ Lockett and grew the game of AFL in rugby heartland to a level many thought wasn’t possible.

Sydney coach John Longmire realised this as early as Franklin’s first training session.

“I first got a sense for what we were in for when at our first training session there were a couple of helicopters circling up above and I thought, ‘This is a bit different’,” Longmire said.

“The interest in the game was certainly growing over that period (2005-06) because we were a reasonably successful team and then Lance when he came here, it went to another level.

“He brought a whole new generation of fans, I think we were already on our way as far as being a competitive team and having a really strong supporter base.

“And then when Lance came in he added another generation, another level and the interest went through the roof.”

It’s hard to quantify the Franklin effect. Early into his Sydney reign there were reports in 2016 that he’d already added $11 million to the Swans bottom line in memberships, corporate investment, game attendance and merchandising.

That was after just two years. Imagine what that figure would be now after 10.

Swans CEO Tom Harley, who once tore his hamstring chasing Franklin as a Geelong player, said part of Franklin’s legacy was already coming through in the next wave of players.

“One of the things he has contributed to is the growth of the AFL in Sydney,” Harley said. “Some of our really good young players came through the Swans Academy, born and bred here, like Errol Gulden, who would have grown up as a Buddy Franklin fan.

“And now he’s started his career with Lance, that’s part of the legacy piece.”

Former Sydney chairman Richard Colless described Franklin as “one of the great box office drawcards”.

“He is a once-off,” Colless said. “Sam Kerr who is arguably the best female soccer player in the world and certainly we think that here in Australia, her calf has almost been pushed off the front page by Buddy’s, by this 36-year-old who plays the game that is only played in half of Australia.

“That’s kind of how big he is.”

Geelong premiership hero Steve Johnson played against Franklin and then coached him for three years at the Swans.

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“It is the same as the Lockett factor, he just draws another 25 per cent of people to the game,” Johnson said.

“If you say to any non-football person in Sydney, ‘Do you know any AFL footballers? They’ll just say Buddy. He is the biggest name in the game.

“People go to the football in Sydney for the experience, there are passionate supporters, don’t get me wrong, but they go there for the social side. It is an event and he’s been the main act.”