After months of speculation about his future in sport, Sydney Swans Lance Franklin has signed a one-year contract extension with AFL club.
Lance Franklin : Contract extension | Wife | Goals
Lance Franklin, also known as Buddy Franklin, is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 2005 to 2013.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lance Franklin | ||
| Nickname(s) | Buddy | ||
| Date of birth | 30 January 1987 | ||
| Place of birth | Perth, Western Australia | ||
| Original team(s) | Perth (WAFL) | ||
| Draft | No. 5, 2004 national draft | ||
| Debut | Round 1, 2005, Hawthorn vs. Sydney, at the SCG |
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| Height | 199 cm (6 ft 6 in) | ||
| Weight | 106 kg (234 lb) | ||
| Position(s) | Key forward | ||
Regarded as the greatest forward of his generation and among the greatest players of all time, Franklin has kicked 1,047 goals, the most of any current player and the fifth-most in VFL/AFL history, and has been his clubs’ leading goalkicker on twelve occasions (six for Hawthorn and six for Sydney), kicking at least 50 goals in each of those seasons.
He has been selected in the All-Australian team on eight occasions (three at full forward and five at centre half-forward), including as captain in the 2018 team, and has won four Coleman Medals throughout his career, with his biggest haul coming in 2008 with Hawthorn, when he kicked 113 goals.
Contract extension
Lance Franklin has chosen grand final week to make the sudden announcement that he will play on with Sydney in 2023.
The announcement was made via social media as the 35-year-old prepares for his sixth grand final as Sydney takes on Geelong on Saturday.
He was among the Swans’ best in Saturday’s nail-biting one-point win over Collingwood, kicking two goals and taking a crucial mark in the dying stages of the game as his team attempted to hang on to their narrow lead.
After months of speculation about his future in the sport, Sydney Swans legend Lance Franklin has signed a one-year contract extension with the AFL club.
The 35-year-old forward, who has played 340 AFL games and kicked 1047 goals since his debut in 2005, will represent Sydney next year despite reports of a potential move to the Brisbane Lions.
The Swans honoured sporting icon Michael Jordan by mimicking his famous press release from 1995, announcing Franklin’s deal via social media on Monday evening.
“The following statement was released today by Lance Franklin, via the Sydney Swans Football Club located in Sydney, NSW, Australia, in response to questions about his future career plans,” the statement read.
Lance Franklin wife
Jesinta Franklin and her husband Lane ‘Buddy’ Franklin have been an iconic couple in Australia for quite some time now.
Jesinta, a former Miss Universe Australia winner and Buddy, an AFL player for the Sydney Swans, have also welcomed two children in the last few years.
But amid their very public profiles, their private life has remained exactly that – private. Buddy and Jesinta also didn’t attend this week’s Brownlow Medal Awards.
So given the AFL grand final is this weekend, here’s what we know about the couple, including how they met, the challenges they’ve faced, and how they decided on their parenting style.
At first, Jesinta actually rejected Buddy’s advances.
“He got my number off someone, and then he just started messaging me. And I was like, ‘Um, I’m not dating at the moment. I’m dating my career’,” she told Beauticate in 2017.
“Cringe! Oh my God, I can’t believe I said that. Back then, as soon as I came back from competing at Miss Universe, I hit the ground and the years following were insanely busy. Weekends were non-existent, and I never took any holidays. I was so busy I couldn’t imagine fitting in any dating.”
Fast forward a few years, and they went on their first date.
The couple later became engaged in December 2014, before getting married in an intimate ceremony with their immediate family and close friends in a private garden in New South Wales’ Blue Mountains in November 2016.
Goals
After kicking one goal in round 1 of the 2022 season, Franklin kicked four goals in Sydney’s win over Geelong in round 2, becoming the sixth player in VFL/AFL history to kick 1,000 career goals in the process.
| Playing career | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 2005–2013 | Hawthorn | 182 (580) | |
| 2014– | Sydney | 158 (467) | |
| Total | 340 (1047) | ||
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 2008 | Dream Team | 1 (4) | |
The Swans ultimately qualified for the 2022 AFL Grand Final (also against Geelong), and in the week leading up to the Grand Final, Franklin announced that he had re-signed for one more year, extending his career into 2023.
In January, Franklin was “probably only a week off stepping back into the (Swans’) full program” before suffering calf tightness; by March, he had begun to gradually rejoin training, but his return date was still unclear.
Franklin made his return in round 2 against the Adelaide Crows. He kicked 3 on the day in front of a crowd of 23,946 and helped the Swans defeat the Crows by 33 points.
Franklin was rested for round 3 with John Longmire stating it was part of his training program.
The next week Longmire stated Franklin would be in the side for the round 4 clash against Essendon if he got through training without any worries. Franklin kicked 3 goals against Essendon where the Swans won by 3 points.