After growing up in the town of Dowerin in Western Australia a young boy by the name of Lance Franklin moved to board at Wesley College at the age of 15 after winning a sports scholarship.
Having shown promising signs at draft camp and playing for Western Australia in the Under 18 championships Franklin was drafted to Hawthorn with their second pick, number five overall, in the 2004 AFL Draft.
His AFL debut came in Round 1 of 2005 when he lined up in the brown and gold, ironically taking on the Sydney Swans at the SCG.
He went on to kick 21 goals in 20 games during his first season at AFL level.
Lance Franklin during the 2004 AFL National Draft Camp.
2007 was a breakout season for the key forward as he booted 63 goals in the home and away season to finish third in the Coleman Medal behind Jonathan Brown (Brisbane) and Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle).
He would kick seven goals in his first ever finals match including the winning goal in a thrilling elimination final win over Adelaide at Docklands Stadium.
It was in the year 2008 that Buddy truly announced himself to the competition winning his first Coleman Medal, All Australian, Best and Fairest, premiership and finishing with 113 goals in a season.
An important cog in Hawthorn’s premiership success he was seen by most experts as the most dominant forward in the competition.
Buddy celebrates the 2008 premiership with teammate Luke Hodge.
He would go on to win another Coleman Medal in 2011 before his side were exited by Collingwood in a preliminary final at the MCG.
Commentators view: It's pure excitement
The superstar forward would lead the Hawks to another premiership in 2013 before making the move to Sydney.
After 182 games in the brown and gold Franklin would begin his career at the Swans with his first match in the red and white against Greater Western Sydney in Round 1, 2014.
The move was an immediate success winning a third Coleman Medal in his first season at the Swans when he booted 79 goals for the season, also earning a fifth All Australian honour.
A nine-goal haul against St Kilda in Round 21 was clearly the standout performance from his first season in the Harbour city.
After a season in which he battled through injury troubles, the star forward took personal leave from the game on the eve of the 2015 finals series to deal with mental health condition.
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He returned in the pre-season of 2016 and delivered one of his best seasons of his career kicking 81 goals and leading the Swans to a Grand Final appearance where they went down to the Western Bulldogs.
He would be named All Australian in 2016, 2017 and 2018. In 2018 being named captain of the All Australian side in a sign of his standing in the game.
It was his Coleman Medal win in 2017 that still stands out as the most exciting, booting ten goals in the final round against Carlton at the SCG to wrap up the award.
Franklin celebrates his tenth goal against Carlton in Round 23, 2017.
In 117 matches to date for the Sydney Swans Franklin has booted 360 goals.
In 299 career games he has kicked 940 goals which places him in seventh position on the all time goals list behind Jack Titus on 970.
A modern-day marvel who continues to wow crowds, Lance Franklin will notch up yet another milestone on Saturday afternoon when he becomes just the 89th player in VFL/AFL history to play 300 matches.
