Five sure-fire strategies to stop Buddy, or not Patrick Smith | April 23, 2008
TERRY WALLACE was asked to explain how he might stop Lance Franklin from beating up on his Tigers come Sunday. This, everybody has conceded, is not an easy task. Wallace said the Hawthorn super forward is all but impossible to match up on.
Wallace nominated five players who might stand him - Will Thursfield, Kel Moore, Jay Schulz, Luke McGuane and Graham Polak. They would only be half a chance of stopping Franklin if they all manned him up at the same time.
With a little help - no, make that a tip-truck's worth of help - from one of football's shrewdest brains The Australian has come up with The Franklin Five. They are five strategies that can halt the dominance of Franklin and, in turn, Hawthorn.
The Franklin Five * Rule 1: Don't give way to the right For a left-footer, Franklin quirkily likes to lead to his right. He can swing the ball left to right with his kicks and appears more comfortable leading away from his natural side.
Hawthorn will seek him out in 35-45 per cent of its inside 50 forays. Standing 196cm tall and weighing 101kg, Franklin likes nothing better than body contact. Being a left-hander he will look to push his opponent off with his left hand and then make his lead.
Stand on his right side and a metre in front of him to cover the lead to the right and avoid Franklin pushing off.
* Rule 2: Quick or the dead The bigger defenders have failed against Franklin repeatedly. Daniel Merrett, Brisbane's well performed fullback, is as tall as Franklin and three kilos heavier. He was quickly moved off Franklin when he conceded two goals in the first quarter of their match at the Gabba on Saturday night.
So Ben Rutten and Shane Wakelin, two of the better, bigger defenders in the league, are not good match-ups for Franklin. Better to use smaller, swifter players like Carlton's Jarrad Waite, Essendon's Patrick Ryder, Geelong's Matthew Scarlett and Sydney's Craig Bolton.
Franklin does not take a lot of contested marks, is not a strong pack mark and is not noted for running back into the forward line to receive.
So strength and bulk are not essential. But speed is. Franklin's opponent must be able to arrive at the ball the same time as he does. If Franklin arrives first, he marks. It is as simple as that. Quick players at least have a chance to keep up with him and get a fist to the ball. If Hawthorn had to match up on Franklin they would use Campbell Brown.
* Rule 3: A little sweet talking Players who attempt to upset Franklin with crude, offensive put-downs don't fare particularly well. Neither do ones who attempt to niggle and physically upset him. All that sort of attention only serves to stoke his competitive fires. Adam McPhee attempted to rough up Franklin in the match against Essendon last year. Four goals later ...
It is better to sweet talk him, congratulate him on his year, tell him he is Brownlow Medal favourite and that the 60,000 people in the crowd have all come to see him. He thrives on being niggled, relaxes when you praise him.
* Rule 4: Two is better than one Franklin has great endurance and is happy to run his opponent about, confident the defender will blow up. It is essential to run a second defender to give the main man assigned to Franklin a rest.
Against Fremantle at Subiaco Franklin had his smallest return of the season with four goals. The Dockers used Antoni Grover mainly, with Luke McPharlin in a relief role. Brisbane tried three players - Merrett, Jared Brennan and Joel Patfull - and Franklin kicked eight goals. It is hard enough to find one man to handle Franklin, three is pushing your luck.
* Rule 5: Filling the hole Asked how Clinton Young was able to get so many uncontested possessions when the Hawks played Fremantle, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson explained the Dockers had pushed Roger Hayden back to double-team the forward. Right idea, poor application.
Clubs try pushing a ruckman back in front of Franklin but with little success. The forward is quicker than the lot of them. As well, Hawthorn will rarely push one of their ruckmen, Simon Taylor or Robert Campbell, back to stand the defensive ruckman. Taylor and Campbell are more effective linking play through the midfield.
Best to push a half-back closer to Franklin. He needs to be prepared to let his man run off so he can continually guard the right side of the field, Franklin's feeding ground. Fremantle let Young off which was a mistake because he is a good user of the ball. Better that Michael Osborne's man drop back because, as important as Osborne is to Hawthorn's linking game, he will not always hurt you with his kicking. It is difficult to maintain this ploy because Clarkson will always look to switch so one of his best midfielders becomes the free man.
There was a rule six if all else failed but legal advice suggested the AFL would look dimly on flame throwers, cannons, aircraft carriers, attack dogs, napalm and Helen d'Amico.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23583630-7583,00.html
