Reflecting the respect he commands, not one of the former players and Swans insiders we spoke with have dared write him off as a spent force - but there is a caveat.
columnist Kane Cornes said last year Franklin was no longer in the league’s top 200 players.One club insider has noted Franklin is leaner but also going to ground more often. Though he believes Franklin can no longer beat the game’s premier defenders, he would still be dangerous against a club’s second or third tall backman.
“For 15 years he’s had the best defender the opposition can find every week. If you want to take the risk of putting the second-ranked defender on Buddy look out. He’s still a topliner in our competition.” Though Lloyd says Franklin is still quick enough to trouble defenders, he believes the veteran has lost the explosive speed off the mark to burn off his opponent, and does not get to as many contests anymore. King would like Longmire to give Franklin the occasional run on the wing, à la Matthew Richardson in his near Brownlow year of 2008, where he does not need to be as ballistic.
“Once you lose that, you lose some confidence in yourself and start to think “I’m best to go now” rather than one more year and be under pressure and struggling to hold my position.
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