Hawthorn star Lance Franklin could be as big in Sydney as Tony Lockett was in the 1990s. Picture: Getty Source: Herald Sun
LANCE Franklin could ignite the Sydney market as Tony Lockett did in the 1990s, Swans chairman Richard Colless believes.
Franklin is weighing up a Godfather offer from Greater Western Sydney put at $10million over six years - plus ambassadorial payments from the AFL.
"I think it would be, initially anyway, an extraordinary coup,'' Colless told the Herald Sun.
"The impact of Lockett can't be underestimated. It was an amazing drawcard. This guy (Franklin) is a very different player, I'm not saying he's the best player in the competition - he is on occasions, but he's six-foot-six, runs like a gazelle, fends people off... and if his kicking was a bit more reliable, he'd be kicking 100 goals a year.
"I think it would be a huge coup.''
Asked about his club's relationship with GWS in their second season, Colless said: "I don't want to say we don't take much notice of them, because we truly respect how hard it is, but we've got our own activities to pursue.
"It's a big market in the western suburbs of Sydney, they are a long way away and I'm not sure, at a player level, whether there is much social activity behind the scenes.
"But I get along well with (Giants chairman)Tony Shepherd - he's a high-quality person - (chief executive) David Matthews is very experienced and Sheeds was probably an inspired choice (as coach).
"I think there were simmering tensions when North (Melbourne) came up because they were here for the short-term and thought the streets were paved with gold.
"They did things which were sort of poor form, sticking flyers under the windscreens of Swans' members and that sort of stuff.''
The Kangaroos played home games at the SCG from 1999-2001.
"GWS are taking a long-term view but it's hard,'' Colless said. "It's a generational thing.
"You might get a big crowd to one game, but you've got to do that week-in week-out.
"The reality is, it is going to be very expensive. But that's not all that newsworthy; that's been the case before the thing was set up.
"There's no screaming demand for AFL in the western suburbs of Sydney. They have got to create a lot of it from scratch. It's a lot of hard work. That takes time and it takes a lot of money. They are the inescapable facts.''
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