Bombertalk

Lance Franklin may miss Collingwood clash through suspension


HAWTHORN faces the prospect of going into battle against premier Collingwood without champion foward Lance Franklin for the second year in a row.

Franklin was reported for striking Gold Coast youngster Maverick Weller on Saturday and if the AFL match review panel endorses that report, Franklin could be condemned to a minimum two-match penalty.

Hawks star Sam Mitchell told Triple M radio that Franklin could pay the price for bumping instead of tackling.

"You just have to go to the line and hope there wasn't enough force in it to warrant a report," Mitchell said.

"If there is, then it's high and all that sort of stuff. So hopefully, worst-case scenario, it's just a week."


Watch Franklin's bump in Leather Poisoning above

With two ruckmen, two key defenders and Jarryd Roughead already out of commission, that would make Friday night's MCG clash against Essendon tough enough.

The showdown with the Magpies nine days later would be a daunting task as the Hawks fight to protect their station in the top four.

Two meetings with Collingwood last season underlined Franklin's importance.

In Round 4 last year he was out serving a week's suspension and the Pies smashed Hawthorn by almost 11 goals.

In Round 22 he kicked six goals to be the hero of a three-point win over the eventual premier.

The Hawks' general manager of football operations, Mark Evans, confirmed yesterday the field umpire's report listed the charge as striking - not rough play - after Franklin made contact with Weller with an elbow or upper arm while bumping his opponent.

If the match review panel deems the action as rough contact, with loading for past indiscretion, even a guilty plea would mean a two-match ban.

Hawthorn's spine has been decimated, with Roughead (achilles tendon) and key defenders Stephen Gilham (knee) and Ben Stratton (knee) gone for the year.

Two sling tackles during Saturday night's St Kilda-Geelong clash could also come under scrutiny.

Cat Mitch Duncan left the ground dazed but returned after being slung by St Kilda forward Justin Koschitzke and Joel Corey applied a similar tackle on Saint Jack Steven.

jimmyc1985 wrote:Good. We're rubbish, the only media reports we should be getting are those highlighting how rubbish we are.

My view is that a big part of the malaise over the last 5 or so years is that, internally, we have continually refused to face up to how mediocre we are. My view has firmed over the last 2-3 weeks. The facts are, we are absolute shite and among the worst-performed teams over this period next to Melbourne and Richmond.

Our players are still fking shite, and every time i see Welsh, or McVeigh, or Davey, or NLM, or Prismall, or Slattery, or Myers run around in an AFL guersey, i will continue to be bitter. We need to stop accepting the mediocre vomit these bandits and others have served up for years.

jimmyc1985 wrote:Good. We're rubbish, the only media reports we should be getting are those highlighting how rubbish we are.

My view is that a big part of the malaise over the last 5 or so years is that, internally, we have continually refused to face up to how mediocre we are. My view has firmed over the last 2-3 weeks. The facts are, we are absolute shite and among the worst-performed teams over this period next to Melbourne and Richmond.

Our players are still fking shite, and every time i see Welsh, or McVeigh, or Davey, or NLM, or Prismall, or Slattery, or Myers run around in an AFL guersey, i will continue to be bitter. We need to stop accepting the mediocre vomit these bandits and others have served up for years.

swoodley wrote:

jimmyc1985 wrote:I calmly explained to her that apart from Gold Coast and the Crows, we would be the worst performed team over the last five weeks (and during that time, the only team I thought we would struggle against was Fremantle in Perth). That got her thinking a bit.

billyduckworth wrote:

swoodley wrote:

jimmyc1985 wrote:I calmly explained to her that apart from Gold Coast and the Crows, we would be the worst performed team over the last five weeks (and during that time, the only team I thought we would struggle against was Fremantle in Perth). That got her thinking a bit.

Also, ponder this: we have beaten only one team inside the eight for the entire year (West Coast).
The wins we had against St Kilda & Bulldogs, which looked really good at the time, were probably nowhere near as impressive as we thought originally. Even the draw against Carlton, it could be argued, merely proves they always shit themselves when they know they're playing us. No doubt we were playing better in the first 5-6 weeks than we are now, but maybe even then we weren't anywhere near as good as we thought we were.

Windy_Hill wrote:But yeah, we are shite. I am jumping on the bandwagon with Robbie, J-Mac and the rest. The Essendon Shit Truck is leaving the depot - all aboard!!

billyduckworth wrote:
Also, ponder this: we have beaten only one team inside the eight for the entire year (West Coast).

little_ripper wrote:

billyduckworth wrote:
Also, ponder this: we have beaten only one team inside the eight for the entire year (West Coast).

Ponder this. Carlton haven't beaten us.(and couldn't with us 2 men down - our two quickest). Sydney could have gone either way, stiff.

We have given Collingwood as good a run for their money as most sides. We also played Freo in Perth, who I think more than demonstrated on the weekend are a much better side over there.

Then of course we are yet to play Hawthorn and Geelong. Although on current form the result of those doesnt look good, I'll reserve judgement until after the next fortnight.

West Coast and Sydney are being touted as possible top 4, yet who have they beaten in the 8? Similar poor records...with maybe one or two wins...