Sydney’s longest-serving Chairman Richard Colless says that Lance Franklin never considered going to GWS when he made his free-agent move from Hawthorn in 2013.
Franklin’s move to the Swans at the time came as a shock to many, with many – including the AFL – expecting the superstar to take up a mammoth offer with the competition’s newest club if he were to leave Hawthorn.
While the AFL had their wishes, Colless said that Franklin was never going to a team that at the time looked destined to be stuck near the bottom of the ladder for some years.
Colless says that the main thing that put the Swans in the Franklin race was their recent success and that talks for him to join the club were initiated by Franklin himself and his then-manager Liam Pickering.
“It was initiated by Lance and Liam,” Colless told SEN This is Your Journey – Thanks to Tobin Brothers.
“There were only two outcomes, either stay at Hawthorn or play for the Sydney Swans.
“I think what the AFL didn’t understand when they made free agency is that yes, they (free agents) want to get paid a bit of money, but what they’re not going to do in the back end of their career is go to a club they think will be a cellar-dweller.
“There was never any chance of Lance doing anything but staying where he was or coming to the Swans.
“That wasn’t because we were better negotiators or put up better terms (than GWS), that was his (Franklin’s) call.”
Colless recalled the time he first heard of the Franklin move which was when he received a call from then Swans CEO Andrew Ireland.
Ireland propositioned Colless with the idea after hearing from Pickering and the Chairman was quick to get on board.
“My understanding is that Liam approached him (Andrew Ireland), and I’m inclined to believe this is the factual account,” Colless said.
“Andrew then rang me and said, ‘What do you think?’. It wasn’t something where we had heaps of time to mull over.
“I felt like a kid in a lolly shop, Lance Franklin – the best player in a generation.
“We had to do whatever it takes as long as it was in the rules.
“This was the biggest name in football … it was a spontaneous thing (to say yes).”
Colless served as Sydney’s Chairman from 1993 to 2013.
Listen to his This is Your Journey episode with Sam Edmund here!
