Why did Franklin never get close to kicking 100+ again?

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He lost his ability to take contested marks with us after 08 due to thumb issues. That and our game plan became less Buddy focused.

He also missed at least 3 games every season for us between 2010-2013, 2011 and 2012 he could have at least got to 90+ if he didn't miss 3 and 6 games in those years
This. Botched recovery after his surgery with multiple re-infections (IIRC he went surfing soon after the surgery, I guess in the 2008 off-season?) - and never seemed to regain the strength in his hands. He was never a great contested mark anyway, but after this injury his marking became a genuine weakness right through his Hawthorn career.

In 2009 he moved up to CHF (Rough/Hale as the FF/FP/Ruck rotations) and didn't really get back to FF until he was at Swans in 2013.
 

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This. Botched recovery after his surgery with multiple re-infections (IIRC he went surfing soon after the surgery, I guess in the 2008 off-season?) - and never seemed to regain the strength in his hands. He was never a great contested mark anyway, but after this injury his marking became a genuine weakness right through his Hawthorn career.

In 2009 he moved up to CHF (Rough/Hale as the FF/FP/Ruck rotations) and didn't really get back to FF until he was at Swans in 2013.
Would you say 2008 was the best version of Franklin?
 
Would you say 2008 was the best version of Franklin?

2008 was clearly his best year after the siren!

For mine he was a more unique footballer in the 07-09 period - genuinely a midfielder in a KPP body. He kicked the century in 08, and perhaps as few as 20 were from contested marks at FF. He was a (very) tall, (VERY) fast flanker/pocket who simply couldn't be matched physically. He was taller, faster for longer. (Some 3rd talls seemed to do particularly well against Franklin as they were closer athletically in general play and Lance didn't dominate them in the air)

From 2010-2013 he was our CHF, getting upfield and (felt like) he was good for "20 and 3" (goals, 5 behinds!) each week. He was probably the better "footballer" through this time (and into Swans career), but less of an individual phenomenon. If I had to name a peak year, it was probably 2012.

Once he made it to the Swans, they appears to really build him up physically - he was far bigger and stronger through the body (and hands!), slower and FAR less agile and spent considerably more time close to goals. He was probably the best FF of his career during this time. After the first year his contested ability (and free kicks!) dramatically improved.

It may have all just been his natural development (skinny under-developed teenager, then agile tall in his early 20s, mature KPF late 20s, stay at home FF monster mid 30s), or it may have been how the two clubs saw his best impact to the team.

He was the best player of the last 20 years, without question IMO. Which version was best? Well that's up to the viewer.

Now I'll go home and pick the splinters out of my butt.
 
My thoughts on one of the reasons was the fact they bulked him up a bit. You look at his frame from 08-onwards. I even recall after 08, the pre season hype was that he had gotten bigger, but lost none of his agility and speed, however to me anyway, he just seemed to have lost a bit and started to go 1-1 more and wrestle for contested marks more.
 
Footy changed pretty quickly and teams already by that point had started working out that with all the changes to defensive structures that spreading the load on the scoreboard was the way to go going forward.

The Hawks in particular made an effort to add talent to the forward line and ensure they weren’t just totally reliant on Buddy.

Yep - I was reading Boomer's book and he was saying that defensive tactics in the 90s-early 2000s were as simple as "man up".

It wasn't until later that things like zone defence came about. Backlines working as a unit put an end to KPFs dominating games.
 
I've never forgiven Clarko for uber flooding around Fev to stop that happening. It would surely be historic to have two players reach 100 goals in the same match (I haven't checked to see if it's happened before in older times).
Similar, but Lockett kicked his 100th for the year and his 1,000th overall against Fremantle in 1995. So the crowd got to run on the field twice.
 
Clarko introduced the zone defence in/around 2008 - everyone else copied that - no one will ever kick 100 again.

Buddy pre defensive zones was unstoppable.
Neil Craig? If I recall correctly, Adelaide implemented an 18-man zone to great success in 2005 and 2006. Clarkson's Cluster was more or less ripped from them.


Craig developed a game that took a defensive structure in a way the game had not seen and drew on a sports science background to work his players. The game that has evolved into the press in large part began with the Crows and their grid defence. St Kilda coach Ross Lyon and Hawthorn counterpart Alastair Clarkson borrowed from Craig and applied their own interpretations. Malthouse further refined what they had done and compressed the defensive zone.

Adelaide, in the Craig era since 2005, have been known to load up their defence with more than the traditional back six.

"I like to think we zone," Craig said of his tactics in defence.

"We have been zoning, playing that sort of football for three or four years. That is nothing new for us.
 
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Similar, but Lockett kicked his 100th for the year and his 1,000th overall against Fremantle in 1995. So the crowd got to run on the field twice.
Pretty incredible in itself really
 
I believe most of what Clarko implemented was stolen from soccer. Clarko is credited with implementing the zone in AFL.
Are you sure? Rodney Eade in the mid-90's implemented a zone he took from basketball. Probably why we reached a grand final by surprise as it was new and successful.
 

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Are you sure? Rodney Eade in the mid-90's implemented a zone he took from basketball. Probably why we reached a grand final by surprise as it was new and successful.
 
Had the same amount of Brownlow votes (20) in 2011 as he did in 2008. Kicked 82 goals but was used much more up the ground as a linking player than stay home forward, all while having the most marks inside 50, so arguably was as good a season he had.
 
I've never forgiven Clarko for uber flooding around Fev to stop that happening. It would surely be historic to have two players reach 100 goals in the same match (I haven't checked to see if it's happened before in older times).
"uber flood" pfft...

A couple of Hawk forwards chose to drop back into defence to lend a hand. (Roughead was one of them.)
I don't even think it was a directive from Clarkson. IIRC, Roughie chose to do so of his own volition.

Even if Clarkson did send the runner out and tell his players to crowd Fevola, whoopty fricken doo! Fev's teammates were feeding him at every opportunity. It was comical. One guy had a wide open shot beckoning from inside the goal square. He was only a couple of metres from the goal line and he elected to dish it off sideways to Fev for yet another charity goal.

What the hell do you think the Hawthorn players were going to do? Just stand around and let Fevola have it on a plate??

In case you weren't aware, they were still playing a game of AFL football. The whole idea of footy is kick the ball through the goals and stop your opponent from kicking goals. Carlton players were determined to feed Fevola every time they went forwards and so it was only natural the Hawthorn players were going to defend that avenue to goal and try to stop the Blues/Fev from kicking more goals.

It was hilarious the way Blues fans carried on about it like a bunch of babies. They still do!!!

"I've never forgiven Clarko..." LOL :D:thumbsu::thumbsu:

It was Buddy's night for the 100 goals. He deserved the spotlight. Fevola was the 2nd half clown support act. The Sideshow Bob. I thought it was brilliant the way Carlton fans had their hopes raised to fever pitch, thousands of them with one foot on the fence, ready to dash onto the ground... Only to be denied by the mighty Hawks with Fev stranded on 99. It was hilarious. So fitting. And all the nonp-stop whining on SEN talkback radio fror days afterwards. Hilarious!


You mention about how it would've been an historic occasion to have 2 centurion goal kickers. Well, Fev did make history that night. He became the only player in AFL/VFL history to kick a total 99 goals in a season. There's your history. A unique occurrence in our great game which has never been repeated.


Personally, I thought it was poetic justice. Karma for terrorizing those poor women at the Dry Cleaners when he burst in like maniac at 6am or 7am after a night on the piss and sprayed them with a fire extinguisher. Karma for being a drunk flog at the Brownlow and tearing the dress off some poor girl. Karma for being a drunk psycho at yet another Brownlow count and harassing a female journo - even following her into the women's toilets and sexually assaulting her. Karma for paying off his massive gambling debts to bookmakers by playing "dead" in certain matches, either not trying and being dragged from the field... or deliberately missing goals from close range.
 
His 100 in 08 Surprised. No one saw the young prodigy coming, so didnt plan around it.

From that point on, oppo teams preparation started to be about controlling Buddy.

By 10/11 it was becoming a problem, and Clarkson was moving him up the ground a lot more to have a more positive effect.

In a strange quirk, we became a better team after he left (Though I still consider him the best player in the league at the time), because the predictability went too. Hawks of 14-15 had so many options that needed to be covered.
Rough, Gunston, Cyril, Poppy, Breust.

If Buddy had of stayed, they all get half those looks, merely because of his presence.

I personally dont think the three-peat happened if Buddy Stayed with the Hawks.
No-one saw it coming? Yeah who would've thought that a high draft pick who had already taken the league by storm and kicked 73 in the previous year would improve. Amazing that opposition teams didn't put work into him...what are you talking about
 

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