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Lance Franklin

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Mitch75 said:
I think summing up Buddy as the Michael Jordan of AFL footy is about right. He did some magical things on the footy field. If you YouTube the clip with his 1000 goals, you can relive some of that magic. The first 580 were in hawthorn colours. Some of them still bring tears to my eyes today, watching them again.
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Probably closer to the Charles Barkley of AFL footy imo!
 
I don’t think I’ve enjoyed footy as much as I did watching Buddy come up. I’d race down to the shop to get the paper the day after a Buddy outing in 2007, then 2008 he practically took the piss most weeks kicking big bags and making the impossible look easy. I think it all culminated for me in that 08 final where he kicked 8 on Brian Lake, some of the most masterful goals kicked, effortless kicks off 2 steps 50 meters out. Cant say I’ve seen anyone consistently do it like Bud since.
 
Yeah 08 was out of this world. I know he was ineligible but how Cooney got more votes in the Brownlow than him beggars belief (plus Goodes, Richo, Ablett and Black). Best season from an individual I’ve had the pleasure of watching.
 

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The Chad and I said:
No right foot, weak overhead, doesn't crash packs.
He plays more like a tall half forward.
Will probably go back home after 2-3 seasons.
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I still recall him being bulked up to make him 'better'.

2008 was the absolute crest of the wave for him at an individual performance level.

He became more valuable to the team though. Plus, he didn't go really missing in big finals, even the losing ones. Almost got us over the line in 2012, when we were carrying a few injuries.

Still angry he left. But like most of us, it's mostly for most selfish reasons. The debatable point is that it doesn't seem right to talk to the team that beat you in the GF when the loss was still raw.

The great narrative through all of this though, is that ultimately he made the right choice for his family, but the wrong one for his trophy cabinet. Or maybe it was the right one for everyone. Either way it's still very raw, and no matter what salary cap says, I figure with him in the side we were still a very good chance to 3 peat.
 
Lebbo73 said:
Probably closer to the Charles Barkley of AFL footy imo!
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If he was Barkley, who was Jordan?

Tony Locket?

I honestly think Bud might have kicked 2000 goals if he'd played through the 80s and 90s.

Buddy started in 2005, nobody other than him has kicked 100 in a season or 1000 goals total from that moment till now.

It's not getting easier to kick bags of goals either.

The only argument against him is that he wasn't a one club player, and dropped out of our 3 peat team.

That's the sum of all arguments against it.

Even when we smashed him and $hitney in 2014, he was still their best player, in a sport that is far more team oriented than basketball will ever be.
 
toomanysquibs said:
I still recall him being bulked up to make him 'better'.

2008 was the absolute crest of the wave for him at an individual performance level.

He became more valuable to the team though. Plus, he didn't go really missing in big finals, even the losing ones. Almost got us over the line in 2012, when we were carrying a few injuries.

Still angry he left. But like most of us, it's mostly for most selfish reasons. The debatable point is that it doesn't seem right to talk to the team that beat you in the GF when the loss was still raw.

The great narrative through all of this though, is that ultimately he made the right choice for his family, but the wrong one for his trophy cabinet. Or maybe it was the right one for everyone. Either way it's still very raw, and no matter what salary cap says, I figure with him in the side we were still a very good chance to 3 peat.
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...and the bs 'compensation'.
 
toomanysquibs said:
If he was Barkley, who was Jordan?

Tony Locket?

I honestly think Bud might have kicked 2000 goals if he'd played through the 80s and 90s.

Buddy started in 2005, nobody other than him has kicked 100 in a season or 1000 goals total from that moment till now.

It's not getting easier to kick bags of goals either.

The only argument against him is that he wasn't a one club player, and dropped out of our 3 peat team.

That's the sum of all arguments against it.

Even when we smashed him and $hitney in 2014, he was still their best player, in a sport that is far more team oriented than basketball will ever be.
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Buddy was best suited to the Wayne Carey era through the mid-late 90s when the ground drainage started providing incredibly consistent surfaces. There was no zone defence and teams funnelled everything to their full forward.

Those 80s grounds did not suit very tall players.
Ablett and Dunstall only 185cm and 186cm. Demott the same.
Modra 188cm.
Kernahan unusually tall for KPP of his era.
 
The Chad and I said:
Buddy was best suited to the Wayne Carey era through the mid-late 90s when the ground drainage started providing incredibly consistent surfaces. There was no zone defence and teams funnelled everything to their full forward.

Those 80s grounds did not suit very tall players.
Ablett and Dunstall only 185cm and 186cm. Demott the same.
Modra 188cm.
Kernahan unusually tall for KPP of his era.
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I like the theory on buddy doing better back then, but I think it's cherry picking a little. Plus, Bud could also play very, very well in the wet.

But firstly players across the board were a lot shorter in the 80s and early 90s for the most part. Pretty much on every line, across the ground.

Also take for example: Carey, Paul Salmon and Plugger who did very well during the 80s and 90s.

Carey was 192, Lockett was 191 and Salmon was a whopping 205cm. The first two are the 2nd best CHF and co-best FF to play in the AFL era.

Their heights are only marginally shorter than many key position players in 2025 (194/5cm or so gets you a gig if you're good enough, and if you're James Sicily you just do whatever the $#@% you want to anyway).

Aside from the recent breakout of Sam Darcy (King brothers probably belong here too, but they're a little shorter), we've not really seen another Salmon sized key forward succeed in the AFL.

I'm not sure ground drainage has raised playing heights to be fair, it's as much the evolution of the athletes as a group as much as anything. Height increases in professional sport are pretty much uniform as a general rule with the odd exception. Our current on ball brigade has a 187cm Mackenzie looking short when he's in there with Day and Nash.

But mostly, Bud would have kicked 2k goals then because there wasn't a highly efficient team defense being rolled out against forwards every week. There were hardly any zones for most of it. The flood had yet to be popularized. When Fitzroy held Dunstall goalless with a 3 man zone in the early 90s, the fact that they'd used one warranted multiple pages in the Hun.

Franklin would have kicked 20 multiple times playing one out, and skipping around the likes of Mick Martyn and co. from that era (he might have gotten whacked a lot for his troubles though).
 
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toomanysquibs said:
He was also an unusually bad kick of the football for a key forward. I know it's a cliche, but did that guy ever kick a drop punt through the middle? hard to believe you could have had a career and made the money he did without that skill.
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Kernahan had terrible eyesight. I read somewhere once he really struggled playing night games especially. Might have had something to do with it
 
toomanysquibs said:
2008 was the absolute crest of the wave for him at an individual performance level.
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I only ever got to see Buddy play live once and thankfully it was in 2008 up here at the Gabba.

He kicked 8.6 in a high scoring game we ended up winning including a goal I'll never forget which he roosted from outside 50 and I swear it went through at almost goal height. We were close to the 50 metre arc quite a few rows back so saw it all side on. Was a monster of a kick!
 

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Flamin Joe said:
I only ever got to see Buddy play live once and thankfully it was in 2008 up here at the Gabba.

He kicked 8.6 in a high scoring game we ended up winning including a goal I'll never forget which he roosted from outside 50 and I swear it went through at almost goal height. We were close to the 50 metre arc quite a few rows back so saw it all side on. Was a monster of a kick!
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That was a high class game iirc. Brown had a great game too for the Lions.
 

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