Is Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin the most dangerous player in the AFL, and will he kick 100 goals this year?
Those were two questions broached on The Marngrook Footy Show, live on NITV on Wednesday night.
It comes after Franklin kicked eight goals, playing a starring role in Sydney’s round-one win over West Coast in Perth.
Marngrook host Grant Hansen was full of praise for Franklin’s ‘sensational’ performance and asked co-host Derek Kickett, what makes the 31-year-old so good?
“He’s tall and terrific, very athletic,” Kickett said.
Marngrook co-host Leila Gurruwiwi with guest panelist AFLW player, Abby Holmes Source: Marngrook
“He’s hard to match up on. He’s a left footer. He’s a Noongar from WA and more importantly, he’s my nephew,” Kickett playfully added.
He’s a left footer. He’s a Noongar from WA and more importantly, he’s my nephew.
“He looks after his body very well and I think the club looks after the older players well.
“He’s going well and he’s training well; he loves his training he says. I think he just loves his footy.
Hansen asked if Franklin’s the most dangerous player in the league when he’s in the type of form he is.
“I would 100 per cent agree with that statement,” panellist Abbey Holmes said.
“To kick eight goals in modern-day footy is hard enough, but I think he had three or four opponents and the eagles just couldn’t shut him down.
Buddy Franklin looks set for a big season after his eight-goal haul. Source: AAP
“But I really like the fact that Sydney are isolating him in the forward line, one on one, because you put him in the situation and you’ll back him to win that one one one contest.
“He’s going to cause a lot of headaches for opposition coaches in 2018.
“You put Dustin Martin in the same bracket as him and his ability to break a game wide open. But I certainly think that, obviously Buddy up forward has the ability to put the scores on the board.”
Holmes later went on to suggest the major talking point to come out of round two of the season would be: “The possibility of Buddy Franklin kicking 100 in season 2018. I think he’s going to kick another bag against Port.”
The 2017 AFLW premiership winner with Adelaide also helped give a brief wrap of the 2018 grand final, won by Western Bulldogs by six points over Brisbane Lions on Saturday.
“After achieving the ultimate success in year one, we definitely set out to go back to back and achieve that again,” Holmes said.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t to be but congratulations to the Western bulldogs because they certainly did have a fantastic year and Mon Conti on the weekend in that third and fourth quarter, really led from the front and came away with the best on ground medal.”
Also on Marngrook on Wednesday, Hawthorn’s Shaun Burgoyne joined the panel, as well as Carlton’s Sam Petrevski-Seton, who was asked about his, as well as Carlton’s development from 2017 to 2018.
“We worked on a lot of our offensive stuff. To play with our own style of play and we’ve got flair into it and on the individual flair, love to play with a bit of excitement and strengths,” Petrevski-Seton said.
“Probably working closer with our midfield coach and forward coach and just working on my strengths and working closely with Patrick Cripps and other midfielders and Matthew Wright, the other forward.
When Cripps was out injured in 2017, Petrevski-Seton spent more time in the midfield and is keen to increase that trend.
He added that in 2017 Carlton were a very defensive team but over the pre-season there has been a big focus on developing the attacking side of their game.
Rohan Connolly again presented his Rounds of Our Lives segment, with former Essendon star Dustin Fletcher joining the show to look back on his 400-game career and in particular, his debut game in 1993, which finished in a draw with Carlton.
Watch The Marngrook Footy Show Wednesdays, 8.30pm on NITV (Ch. 34)
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