'Still undecided': Lance 'Buddy' Franklin puts talks on hold as he weighs up future
This usually means they’re leaving. I reckon Buddy will retire if we win the Premiership this year, otherwise he’ll play for Brisbane next year. Either way it frees up salary cap for Sydney to use on Dusty Martin.
Do you reckon he’s told the club privately so they can plan? Or will he do a “Jordan” on us?
Great that this would free up salary cap but a big NO to Dusty.Originally Posted by cruiser
Okay, that changes the dial from last night. At least we can now focus on the footy in what is a truly exciting season.
I don't think Buddy's statement changes things too much. It still aligns with Tom Harley's statement that both parties are not in a rush as contract talks progress. Important thing is both the club & Buddy agree he has another year in him. No club in premiership window has space to sign him for $700k - $800k. Will Buddy go through all the trouble of settling at another club for most likely 1 season for just additional $100k at most? This is taking into consideration after having just earnt $10m which included sitting out almost 2 seasons of footy.
Plus there's the risk factor Buddy is only 1 injury away from career ending. Any pre-season training disruption will be massive setback for him and $700k - $800k demand doesn't warrant that.
Edit: IMO Buddy will either accept club's contract offer or he retires.
Last edited by KSAS; 6th August 2022 at 12:28 PM.
This new announcement has changed things for me in my thinking. Last night after hearing that a deal was close, I was quite optimistic about him staying. Now I think the most likely outcome is he will jump elsewhere or retire. I don't think he is ready to retire but he most probably will if nobody will cough up what he wants in $. Apparently we upped our initial offer and he is still not signing.
If I was the List Manager of the Swans I would be now taking the view that the $500-600k earmarked for Buddy is now available to re-sign other out of contract players eg Lloyd, Paddy and Fox. It could get a few of those over the line before season's end. Let's see if there are any sudden re-signings announced in coming weeks. Of course, it could also help bring in someone from another Club that we have our eyes on - not Dusty please.
Thanks for the memories, Buddy. We can't be held hostage to the shenanigans of a man who will turn 36 in January. Lets move on and trust our young forwards like Logan and Armetey coming through. Sure, they will never be superstars like Buddy but he is very much in his twilight.
I'd love to know Buddy is sticking around for another year and it's all sorted out, but realistically I'm not viewing the announcement as the end of the world and does sound relatively consistent with statements both he and the club had made.
From all of the overall general weirdness and isolation of the pandemic, having the opportunity to share the moment of his 1000th goal at the SCG with my son is a memory I will cherish forever. Reflecting on that I think it's reasonable to in turn appreciate that other people, even footballers, have been through a lot as well, and it's fair enough for them to say "it's all a bit much, I need some time to think through it" (frankly even if their mind is made up and they're leaving).
I knew him as a gentle young man, I cannot say for sure the reasons for his decline
We watched him fade before our very eyes, and years before his time
I do think he’d like a premiership with the Swans. So we just need 6 more wins and we can send him off to QLD happy!
We still have a lot of contracts to get done. I don't think we should be waiting on Buddy to get those done for a fairly negotiated price. Jake Lloyd would be one of those. Paddy McCartin another.
I can't see the kitty for Buddy's contract getting larger as time goes on. We also would be planning now for the trade period. There might be a few players that would be on the trade table and a few around the league that might be trade targets. All this has to go into the calculations. Buddy's contract would be around the cost of a high grade player, so his decision does significantly impact our post season strategy.
If he wants to put off talks, that fine. But he has to realise that by doing so, he goes to back of the queue.
I agree with Ludwig. This is the best strategy in these difficult circumstances. We can't quarantine that amount of money on the hope that Buddy might re-sign at some point in the post-season. I mention something similar in my earlier post.
Buddy won premiership in his last year at Hawthorn (2013) and then Hawthorn smashed us in the following GF (2014) with Buddy, on their way to three peat premierships. Can history repeat itself IF Buddy moves to Brisbane? (still possible we could play Freo in GF).
I'm getting that vibe too.
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