Lance Franklins nine year, ten million dollar deal has been approved by the League, despite the reservations of the Commission. AFL Deputy CEO Gillon Mclachlan told AFL Trade Radio that “It’s such an extraordinary risk in many respects that the Sydney Swans board has taken. I know a number of clubs and boards that wouldn’t do that because of the risk they’re taking on behalf of their club. We’ve made sure that the board members … understand the risk they are taking with this contract. I’m not sure we could do much more than that. We don’t have any authority to step in and stop boards from making decisions.”
The League has made it clear that the Swans Total Player Payments will be affected every year of the deal regardless of how many years Franklin plays for.
Hawthorn, which had three days to match the offer, confirmed this afternoon that they would not match the Swans, and Lance Franklin officially became a Swan. Sydney coach John Longmire told the Swans website that while nine year deals are rare, so are players with the qualitys of Lance Franklin.
Hawthorn have been officially told by the AFL that they will receive one draft pick in compensation
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Little was actually achieved elsewhere in todays Trade period with negotiatians still under way for another day for several players. Brisbanes Sam Docherty has indicated he’d like a trade to Carlton, with the Blues offering up players but not draft picks. AFL.com.au reports that the Blues are also interested in former Bulldog midfielder Daniel Cross and former Cat Paul Chapman. Fremantle is understood to be considering James Podsiadly and Hawthorns Xavier Ellis.
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Fairfax media is today reporting that the story concerning the Greater Western Sydney offer of $4 million to Collingwoods Heath Shaw is incorrect, quoting his manager Ben Niall as saying the amount is way off the mark. The Giants have also lambasted the report saying that reports of the deal are ‘wildly exaggerated’ and ‘simply wrong’. Shaw has also attracted interest from Essendon and Carlton.
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The coaching merry go round continues with Scott Burns returning to Collingwood where he was a highly regarded player after being overlooked for the West Coast coaching job. Leigh Tudor who yesterday gave a presentation to the Essendon board for the temporarily vacant Bombers coaching job has today surfaced as an assistant coach at North Melbourne, while Geoff Walsh returns to the club as the director of Football. This leaves former Essendon assistant Mark Thompson as the outright favourite for the job vacated by James Hird.
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The AFL today announced the Indigenous Australian team to take on Ireland. The International Rules Series will be contested over two Test matches, at Breffni Park in Cavan on October 19 and Dublin at Croke Park on October 26. The team includes Lane Franklin, Lindsay Thomas, Daniel Motlop, Daniel Wells and Chris Yarran amongst others.
