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Buddy over-reliance: why the Swans can’t win it

When Andrew Ireland, Sydney’s chief executive, took a phone call from Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin’s then-manager Liam Pickering in October 2012, the Swans were presented with a dilemma.

Franklin wanted to come to the club; that was made clear.

He was done with Melbourne (although he would go on and play in a premiership with Hawthorn in 2013, before reaching free agency) and wanted to shift to Sydney where his girlfriend Jesinta Campbell was domiciled.

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Ireland was initially sceptical that Sydney could fit Buddy into the $10 million salary cap, because the Swans had gone out and lured Kurt Tippett from Adelaide already.

O'Keefe's departure has cleared up salary cap room. Photo: Getty

O’Keefe’s departure has cleared up salary cap room. Photo: Getty

But the more the veteran administrator thought about it, the more he realised that there was a way.

Contrary to popular opinion, it was not all about Sydney’s 9.8 per cent cost of living allowance.

Sydney had some players due to retire – Jude Bolton and Marty Mattner would hang up the boots at the end of 2013.

The highly-paid Ryan O’Keefe was nearing the end and so, too, was Adam Goodes.

Ireland came up with a deal but first, he had to run something by Pickering and Franklin. He wanted to back-end the contract heavily, with the big payments made in the years after Sydney’s natural attrition of senior players.

When Franklin agreed to play his first two years for less than he was earning at Hawthorn, Ireland knew that it would happen.

And of course, Ireland stretched the contract to nine years to blow Hawthorn, which had the right to match any offer, out of the water.

There were three retirements at the end of 2013, while Shane Mumford was traded out after Greater Western Sydney offered him much more money.

Andrejs Everitt went to Carlton, Jesse White to Collingwood and Jed Lamb to GWS, while Tony Armstrong signed with Collingwood after he was delisted, completing a huge clean-out to make way for the biggest signing in recent AFL history.

Buddy could have been playing with these guys at the Giants. Photo: Getty

Buddy could have been playing with these guys at the Giants. Photo: Getty

It was a risk because of the length of contract, but in another way it was a no-brainer. Franklin at least is a champion, one of the best and most marketable players in the business.

At an average $1.1 million a year, Buddy would provide value if he played to his best.

It also meant he would not go to Greater Western Sydney, which was important to the Swans, who deep down were annoyed that the AFL had planted another team in Australia’s biggest city.

Having experienced Sydney indifference to AFL football for several decades, a burgeoning Giants team with Franklin up front and putting bums on seats was hardly a pleasant thought.

Fast forward a couple of years and Franklin has played great footy in red and white, kicking 79 goals in 2014 and taking the club to a grand final. But in loading up at the top end of its list, Sydney has suffered some hurt at the bottom.

With Tippett earning around $800,000 (and not living up to expectations), the pressure on the Swans’ cap is inevitable.

Sydney has inherited Hawthorn’s problem, which can be categorised as too much of a good thing.

It kicks the ball too often to Buddy – 16 times last week, when he was being monstered by Alex Rance and swamped from behind – compared to four kicks directed to Tippett and another four to Goodes.

Franklin is so good that he draws the ball, a point that Hawthorn hit upon around 2011. In that season, the Hawks directed 46 per cent of forward entries to Franklin and were knocked out in the preliminary final.

Franklin celebrates Hawthorn's 2013 premiership. Photo: Getty

Franklin celebrates Hawthorn’s 2013 premiership. Photo: Getty

In 2012, they sent 40 per cent of entries to big ‘Bud’ and lost to Sydney in the grand final.

That single game tells the tale; Franklin played well but kicked 3.4 and a couple out on the full. Everything revolved around him, and he fell just short.

By 2013, Alastair Clarkson knew there was a chance he would lose Franklin and reinvented his forward line, taking Franklin away from dangerous positions at times, and Hawthorn used him only 29 percent of the time. It also won the flag.

Sydney beat Hawthorn at the MCG in round eight to show its bona fides as a contender.

The Swans will surely finish in the top four, and they will have the motivation of last year’s dreadful grand final performance.

But I doubt they can win it because of lack of depth.

In 2012, they won a flag by having a better bottom handful in their team than Hawthorn, but that situation has been reversed.

The club has not had many injuries but even a minor problem for Mike Pyke, its only legitimate ruckman, caused a big problem last weekend against Richmond, which is where Mumford would have been handy.

Tippett is required to ruck for 40 per cent of games but this only makes it tough for him to play at full-forward; he has only 22 goals for the season.

Has Rhyce Shaw lost his zip? Photo: Getty

Has Rhyce Shaw lost his zip? Photo: Getty

Sydney’s defence is ranked No. 1 in the competition, but individually the players can be exposed when left in one-on-one situations and they have several error-prone players.

Rhyce Shaw, at 33, seems to have lost the nerve that allowed him to make those searching runs and Ted Richards at 32 is nearing the end, too.

Dane Rampe’s kicking errors happen too often and Nick Malceski, who left on free agency, is missed with his smooth delivery.

The AFL’s unfair decision to take Sydney out of the trading period scarcely helped; it stopped the Swans from filling the deficiencies in the key defensive posts and the ruck.

They are left with an outstanding midfield and a potentially great forward line which, nevertheless, does not score heavily.

Sydney’s win on Thursday night was achieved with Franklin and Tippett absent through suspension. The Swans had to find a less predictable way forward.

It only emphasised the point. Franklin is great, but not even he can win a flag alone.

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