Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton has revealed that the club had doubts over whether Lance Franklin's body would last the duration if his nine-year deal with the Swans.
When Franklin chose to leave the Hawks in the summer of 2013, signing a monster $10 million deal with the Swans, the Hawks had the choice to match the contract, but declined to do so.
While Franklin was arguably the best player in the AFL when he departed the Hawks, the long-term deal with the Swans posed significant risk on the back end, considering the star forward was 27 years old when he arrived in Sydney.
Since joining the Swans, Franklin has only managed to play every game of the year once (in 2016), and Brereton revealed how 2020 was when the Hawks had predicted the star would start having injury issues.
"Those at Hawthorn thought, we can't match that," he told Fox Footy Live.
"We can't match that but they're probably only getting him for seven (years). That was the estimation.
"I remember at Hawthorn. He had back issues, and we didn't think he was going to get another nine years out.
"Probably thought, look, if they can get seven out of him, well done. That's what he's at now, he's in the seventh now.
"The back issues - I don't know whether they all roll in. We say miles on the clock, the odometer's ticking over."
The 33-year-old's latest hamstring injury comes after a pair of hamstring injuries on his opposite leg restricted him to just 10 games in 2019.
Scans have since revealed that Franklin is facing the possibility of more than two months on the sidelines, with Swans CEO Charlie Gardiner admitting the injury was "slightly worse" than his 2019 hamstring injuries.
The veteran forward will not be able to run for three to four weeks, ruling him out of Sydney's Round 2 clash against Essendon at the SCG.
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/hawthorn-expected-lance-franklin-to-break-down-by-2020-when-he-left-for-sydney/a375afa0-2a5a-44e8-bd79-f96942833b52
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