Sydney Swans forward Lance Franklin is feeling fit, fresh and desperate to return to the finals, having left the door open to play on beyond the end of his contract that expires at the end of 2022.
Franklin has been at Sydney since 2014, playing 124 games in the red and white. The forward battled injuries over the past two seasons, where he played one AFL game but after an uninterrupted pre-season and focussing on rebuilding his core and overall strength, the 34-year-old has now played five of the Swans' past seven matches, including an impressive 6-goal performance against Fremantle last week.
The forward will tackle Carlton at the SCG in Sunday's Marn Grook match.
"We'll come to a decision when the time's right," Franklin said to media this morning, when asked about potentially playing on beyond next season.
"It'd be nice. If my body's holding up and I'm feeling good, then we'll have that chat.
"I just need my body to hold up. There's a lot of great young talent at this football club and it'd be great to go all the way with them."
Franklin's six-goal haul in Sydney's loss to Fremantle means he now sits on 963 career goals, nearing the mammoth 1000-goal milestone.
The prospect of becoming the first man since Tony Lockett to kick 1000 goals is exciting fans and former players but Franklin is yet to contemplate the enormity of the achievement, nor discuss it with Lockett. He is purely focussed on playing consistent football.
"I haven't thought about it at all," he said.
"If that happens, it happens.
"For me it's more about playing, playing consistently, winning and getting the club back to finals."
Franklin was unavailable for the majority of the last two seasons after hamstring and groin injuries. The forward remained focused on returning to play in hopes of playing week in week out.
"I had that 15 years of playing - week in, week out - then to miss that much football in the last couple of years was disappointing," the veteran said.
"I just focused on getting myself in good condition and resilient, so I can hopefully play week in week out for the rest of my career."
Franklin, who become a father of two during the layoff, added that fatherhood had changed his perspective on football.
"When you have a family your priorities do change," he said.
Franklin, a Noongar-Whadjuk man, will take centre stage in this weekend's Sir Doug Nicholls round as one of the sport's Indigenous icons.
"It's a special round, not only for the Indigenous players but for the non-Indigenous players," he said.
"The AFL do such a great thing, the ambassadors of the game do such a good thing too; Shaun Burgoyne, Adam Goodes have all been tremendous in recognising and teaching people about our culture."
The Swans kick off against Carlton at 3:20pm this Sunday, May 30.
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