As his side prepares to tackle the reigning premier at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, Roos said the Hawks pair, who combined for nine goals against Geelong in round one, would eventually be remembered among the game’s greats.
“Roughead and Franklin are still young, but I’d suggest at the end of their careers, you’re going to be looking back on two pretty good forwards,” Roos said.
“Dunstall and Brereton [and] Longmire and Carey were a good combination but I think Roughead and Franklin are going to stack up favourably once their careers are finished.”
Roos said the Hawks’ transition from strugglers to premiers in four seasons was significantly boosted when the club snared the pair in the same draft.
“Looking back through the draft, it’s hard to get key talls and if you get two in the one draft, you can see what an enormous bonus it is, because they can be great players for you for 10 to 12 years,” he said.
“When we look back in 10 or so years, they’re going to be a pretty phenomenal, formidable pair in the history of the game.”
Donning his spruiker’s hat for a moment, Roos even urged Sydneysiders who were sceptical of the Swans’ early-season form to put their doubts aside in favour of watching the Buddy show on Saturday night.
“From our point of view, I just hope we get a big crowd. If you don’t rate the Swannies, come and watch Buddy Franklin play. He’s an absolute star, so if you want a night of excitement, come and have a look at him play,” he said.
“Hawthorn are going to improve on last week and they gave the Cats a bit of a scare late in the game. They’re the premiership team so I don’t think we need to talk up their credentials. Hopefully we get a good crowd and our main thing is to play a lot better than we did last week.”
