BUDDY FRANKLIN
WINKS AT ME AS WE PASS EACH OTHER BETWEEN SHOTS ON A COOL SATURDAY MORNING IN JANUARY AT A PHOTO STUDIO IN SYDNEY'S INNER WEST. IT'S A WINK I FEEL LIKE I'VE SEEN HIM GIVE TEAMMATES ON THE FIELD, THE PLACE HE FEELS MOST AT HOME.
I TAKE IT AS A SIGN THAT HE'S RELAXED AND AT EASE.
I KNOW FROM THE LAST TIME I SPOKE TO FRANKLIN, BACK IN 2017, THAT'S HE'S NOT ALWAYS COMFORTABLE IN THE SPOTLIGHT AND DOESN'T LIKE TO ENGAGE WITH THE CIRCUS THAT'S SURROUNDED HIM SINCE HIS EARLY DAYS IN THE AFL.
“I’ve never been about myself or individual accolades,” says Franklin, when I chat to him later in a courtyard outside the studio. “I just go about my business nice and quietly and obviously very privately. I’m all about my family and keeping them happy. It’s my personality. To people that know me well, I’m probably an extrovert. But when I don’t know you, I’m pretty introverted and just keep to myself. That’s just who I am.”
Throughout our shoot there have been glimpses of that more extroverted side. “How big do they think I am?” he jokes to his agent after trying on a pair of jeans that are comically large. When our videographer pokes fun at me for saying the Swans are my second team (it’s true!), implying that I’m trying to suck up to Franklin, he laughs along: “He’s on today, isn’t he?” he says of our lippy crew member. In these moments there’s a sparkle in his eyes and you can imagine how playful and fun he probably is in the Swans’ dressing room. “I’m a big kid around the footy club,” says the 36-year-old father of two (Tullulah, 3, and Rocky, 2, with wife Jesinta), who’s joining us today in his capacity as an ambassador for Swisse Vitamins.
Franklin’s exploits on the field are already etched in AFL folklore. It’s truly boy’s own stuff. Last year’s 1000th goal against Geelong in round two heralded a pitch invasion the likes of which the AFL hadn’t seen since, oh yeah, when Franklin became the last player to kick a hundred goals in a season back in 2008. There are the kicks for goal off one step from 60m out, the dribbles along the ground from deep in the pocket and, best of all, for me anyway, his galvanising multi-bounce runs down the wing before kicking for goal at a full sprint.
Franklin’s celebrations after one of these coruscating feats is unbridled. He either raises his biceps in muscular triumph or opens his armsstadium and practically shoots through your TV screen.
