Lance Franklin, a towering figure in Australian Rules Football, carved out a legendary career in 2005 with Hawthorn, playing 182 games, kicking 580 goals, and winning the 2008 and 2013 Premierships and the 2008 and 2011 Coleman Medals before leaving in 2014. He signed a nine-year, ten million dollar deal to play out the rest of his career with the Sydney Swans. The signing was one of the biggest moves since Gary Ablett Jr left his father’s club, Geelong, to play for the Gold Coast Suns.
The decision to sign Franklin for such a long and lucrative contract was dismissed shortly after Franklin signed, and critics seemed to be justified after Franklin suffered a back injury in 2015 and missed Sydney’s final campaign due to issues with his mental health. However, Sydney’s decision was vindicated in the long run, as Franklin helped the Swans reach three Grand Finals over his time with the club.
While at Sydney, Franklin played an additional 172 games, kicking 486 goals, and winning two Coleman Medals in 2014 and 2017. Franklin eventually stepped away from the AFL at the end of the 2023 season after suffering a calf injury towards the end of the season.
Lance Franklin’s ability to blend his significant natural size, enabling him to outmuscle most defenders, with a remarkable athleticism, set him apart. The power of this combination was vividly displayed in a celebrated goal: Franklin collected the ball on the wing, his speed creating separation from his poor opponent, Cale Hooker, as he took three bounces before expertly converting from the tight angle of the left forward pocket boundary.
In his final season, Franklin kicked his 1,000th goal, becoming the first player to reach the milestone since Ablett, Lockett, and Dunstall in the 1990s. However, unlike Ablett, Lockett, and Dunstall, Franklin achieved this at a time when teams were much likelier to incorporate team defensive systems to stop players from kicking large bag of goals, as opposed to the mostly one-on-one duels that full forwards often got in the 90s, even if it was detrimental to the losing team.
Franklin is also the most recent player to reach the 100 goals in a single season milestone, which he achieved in 2008, when he finished the home and away season on 102, three ahead of second place Brendan Fevola. Franklin would finish the year with 113 goals in total after kicking an additional 11 goals during Hawthorn’s successful finals campaign.
Franklin didn’t just accumulate goals in the home and away season, as the former Hawk and Swan currently sits third overall for most goals kicked in finals, just four goals behind Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall, and the great Gordon Coventry, who kicked 111 goals in finals for Collingwood. Many of Franklin’s finals’ goals came in clutch moments, including a match-winning goal for the Hawks against Adelaide in the 2007 Elimination Final from outside 50.
There was no denying the magnitude of Lance Franklin’s achievements at the end of his celebrated 18-season career. He played 354 games, kicked a staggering 1066 goals, and contributed to two premiership victories. Individually, he earned four Coleman Medals and remarkably topped his team’s goal kicking list 13 times. His career goal-per-game average of three is notably superior to the current leader in that metric, Jeremy Cameron, who holds a 2.54 average over his 259 games.
What distinguishes Franklin from other 1000-goal scorers is that he didn’t begin his career as Hawthorn’s sole key forward. For a significant portion of his time with the Hawks, he played alongside the formidable Jarryd Roughead, who also had a stellar career with 578 goals, and the legendary small forward, Cyril Rioli.
Had Franklin chosen to stay with Hawthorn in 2014, instead of heading to Sydney, there is a large chance that the key forward would have been a part of all three of Hawthorn’s ensuing premiership wins, instead of being on the losing side of the 2014 Grand Final in his first season with the Swans, where Franklin was the highest goal scorer for the Swans with four goals, and the second-highest goalscorer for the game behind Roughead, who kicked five goals for the Hawks.
Performances of Note
Hawthorn versus North Melbourne, Round 10, 2012
As mentioned earlier in the piece, gone are the days of big superstar full forwards filling their boots with goals, often notching up double-digit goal tallies frequently. However, in this game against North Melbourne, Franklin seemed to turn back the clock as he punched through 13 goals and 4 behinds against the Roos, with his last goal coming mere seconds before the final siren rang out to mercifully end the game. Franklin’s total score for the day passed North Melbourne’s score alone, outscoring North Melbourne by 24 points.
Sydney versus Carlton, Round 23, 2017
Despite his enigmatic talent, Franklin’s time at Sydney included periods of adversity. A significant back injury in his early Swans years restricted him to only 17 games in 2015. He returned strongly in 2016 and 2017. The last game of the 2017 regular season highlighted his destructive potential, Franklin and the Swans dismantled Carlton. Echoing his performance against North Melbourne, Franklin’s brilliance saw him outscore the entire Carlton team with a remarkable 10 goals and 2 behinds to their 8 goals and 9 behinds.
Hawthorn versus Adelaide, Elimination Final, 2007
Beyond his regular season exploits, Franklin proved a force to be reckoned with in finals, a fact underscored by his debut in the 2007 Elimination Final against Adelaide. The Crows jumped out to an early advantage, but Hawthorn mounted a determined fightback. Spearheading this resurgence was Lance Franklin, who kicked a remarkable seven of their 15 goals, culminating in a dramatic, game-winning goal in the dying moments of the match.
