Sunday night freakshow stuff of dreams
Chip Le Grand | April 22, 2008
IF it takes a genuine freak to know one, who better to play on Lance Franklin than Matthew Richardson?
If Franklin is too big, too fast and too fit to contain by conventional means, who better to test this theory than the last footballer described in much the same terms?
It would be a match-up made in marketing heaven; one that by any reasonable estimate would drag another 10,000 people through the MCG gates this Sunday evening when Richmond plays Hawthorn.
As Richmond coach Terry Wallace reminded everyone last weekend, he is in the "footy entertainment industry". What better way to provide value for leisure dollar than a match-up to rival Gavin Wanganeen on James Hird, Adam Goodes on Chris Judd and Nathan Buckley on Michael Voss?
Yet for all its commercial appeal, Buddy versus Richo would be no circus act. Within the entire AFL, only Richardson has taken more contested marks than Franklin this season. Within Richmond's playing list, only Richardson can match Franklin's mix of height, strength and speed.
The marketing men would love to see it and at least one footy hardhead can see merit in the idea.
Early yesterday morning, Danny Frawley was pounding the bitumen on his daily run, mulling over which Tiger could go with Franklin and which Hawk could play on Richardson, when it suddenly struck him: "They could play on each other."
Having coached Richmond for five years and played at full-back for 12, Frawley is well placed to know how Richardson would fare in a key defensive post. Given he is now Hawthorn's part-time backline coach, he has also seen enough of Franklin at work to appreciate the monstrous challenge facing whoever Wallace picks for the job.
"Athletically, they are equipped to play on each other," Frawley said yesterday. "Richo has probably lost half a yard of pace but I have seen both of them train and it would be a great race over 400m or 800m.
"They have got the speed and the power and they can sustain it. They are tall, they take contested marks. Buddy is probably better at ground level than Matty but they can both do the extraordinary things.
"From a selfish point of view I would love to see those two blokes play on each other."
In seasons gone by, it would have been heresy to suggest dragging Richardson out of the Richmond goal square to man an opposition forward; a case of giving up goals to save them. Given Wallace has already made the decision to play Richardson further afield, the notion of playing him on Franklin is not as radical as it first appears.
Last Sunday against the Bulldogs, Richardson started on a wing and pushed deep into defence, his dubious mark from behind the goal line the most extreme example.
Richardson could still swing forward against Hawthorn if required. When back, he would present Franklin with a match-up unlike any he has experienced this year.
In five matches this season, Franklin has kicked 29 goals, the most of any player in the competition. He has played on 11 direct opponents and kicked goals against every one of them.
His eight-goal return against Brisbane last Saturday night left normally level-headed judges raving. But perhaps his most ominous performance was against Adelaide in Launceston a week earlier, when he kicked four goals against Ben Rutten, an All Australian defender, in a mere 36 minutes.
Before the Brisbane game, Leigh Matthews described Franklin as a "freak". Go back to the early stages of his career and you'll find the same word was regularly used to describe Richardson - a young player who stood as tall as Franklin, ran as hard and lead as fast.
"He actually played his first game on me," recalled Frawley, a career full-back with St Kilda.
"When he was young he was every bit as quick as Lance. You would give it to Franklin on the lead at the moment, but you have got to remember Richo is 33 and has had a knee reconstruction as well.
"Matty's engine is still super. If these two boys weren't playing league football, they would be competing for Australia in the Olympics."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23577393-2722,00.html
