The last time Lance Franklin played in front of an unrestricted crowd at SCG, he scored four goals in his 300th AFL game – and a repeat of that performance next Friday will start another massive fire.
Franklin scored just one goal in Sydney’s 20-point opening round derby victory over GWS at Accor Stadium on Saturday, raising his career to 996.
Attention will now be drawn to the clash with Geelong, with Sydney officials saying it will be the first time in 951 days since the milestone game for ‘Buddy’ in August 2019 that the SCG will have an unlimited audience.
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Franklin averages a touch down under three and a half goals a game in the SCG, but just under two and a half per game against the Cats.
The AFL community was preoccupied with anticipation in the direction of Round 1 over whether Franklin would score the five goals to reach four figures.
That will continue even though the ever-measured Sydney coach John Longmire was not caught in the crossfire.
“We are not on countdown monitoring. It will happen if it happens,” Longmire said.
However, he expressed more enthusiasm about the clash with the Cats and the prospect of playing for the first time in a long time in front of a large audience.
“It’s great for the football club and for the players to be able to experience what a great crowd will be up against a team that is forever at the top of the ladder,” said Longmire.
“We have great admiration for the Geelong Footy Club and for them to play at home on a Friday night next week is exciting.”
Longmire was confident that fast midfielder Chad Warner and backline stalwart Jake Lloyd would return from injury for Friday’s game.
GWS coach Leon Cameron hopes to have some quality players back for next Sunday’s away game against Richmond, with key striker Jesse Hogan and strong back-to-back Nick Haynes appearing well in a game earlier on Saturday.
“He (Hogan) is a great chance for next week, we played him for about 60 minutes today, he looked really good,” said Cameron.
“He scored some goals and his second and third efforts were really good.
“We just have to decide whether we have enough pressure on him or not.
“Nick Haynes went through and he had some challenges with his tummy and this was really frustrating for us and for Nick because it was four or six weeks there.
“But he had his best result in terms of his health, playing the game.”
Cameron will be looking for more of his senior midfielders to move up against Richmond after youngster Tom Green scored against Sydney, adding two goals to fit 31 touchdowns and eight clearances.
“He was by far our best midfielder,” said Cameron of Green.
“Some of our other midfielders may not have conveyed their pre-season (form) as much as what Tom has and they will have to get to work next week.”
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