Franklin eyes 300
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, April 6
FORGET about Friday night’s 250th game Lance Franklin has his eyes on 300 plus and who would argue with him on current form.
The 30-year-old is in scintillating touch after taking 11 marks and booting four goals in last week’s loss to the Western Bulldogs and slotting four in the opening round defeat to Port Adelaide.
Buddy still has another five years on his nine year $10 million deal and has already set his sights on 300 games.
“That’s the goal,” Franklin said.
“If the body holds up, which is has so far, it’s probably only two seasons away for me and I’ve got a couple more after that.”
0-250 in no time
Adrian Warren
AAP, Herald Sun, April 6
Sinclair’s the tip for hurt Kurt
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, April 6
CALLUM Sinclair looks to have won the battle with draftee Darcy Cameron for the back-up ruck spot in Sydney’s crunch game against Collingwood at the SCG tomorrow night.
Sinclair played 16 games last year after being traded from West Coast for Lewis Jetta. He suffered a knee injury in round 18 and couldn’t force his way back into the Sydney line-up because of Sam Naismith’s rapid development.
Franklin set to rack up game 250, but star forward would just be happy with a win
James Buckley
SMH, April 6 
When Lance Franklin runs out for his 250th AFL game on Friday night against Collingwood at the SCG, he'll be entering murky, uncharted waters not yet encountered since his $10 million move to the Swans.
Last weekend's loss to the Western Bulldogs was the club's third in a row – the first time Franklin has suffered a hat-trick of consecutive defeats since joining Sydney on a nine-year deal for the 2014 season.
The Bulldogs loss follows Sydney's round-one struggle against Port Adelaide and last year's premiership decider. Not since 2010 – before John Longmire took over as head coach – has the club suffered four-straight defeats.
"The main focus for me at the moment is getting the win on Friday night," Franklin said at a rare press conference on Wednesday.
"We've got off to a bad start, we've lost two. We lost pretty badly against Port but we were much better on the weekend.
"We look forward to Collingwood. They're a very good contested side, we're expecting a big contest.
"We've come up against some good teams, Port Adelaide are up and coming and they play some good football and the Bulldogs won the premiership last year so we've come up against some good sides.
"We've got a lot of improvement ahead of us again this season and it starts on Friday night. It's very special to reach the 250, it's definitely something that I'll look back on when I finish my career."
Mega contracts set to rule
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, April 6
LANCE Franklin says everyone should get used to multi-million-dollar, long-term contracts like the deal North Melbourne reportedly has offered Josh Kelly to lure him from Greater Western Sydney.
Franklin’s nine-year, $10 million deal set new benchmarks when he left Hawthorn to join Sydney at the end of 2013.
He believes the new era of massive player movement and an ever-increasing salary cap will mean the nine-year $9 million offer for Kelly, 22, will become commonplace.
“That’s the industry now,” said Franklin, who will play his 250th game on Friday night against Collingwood.
“Longer-term contracts are coming in into the system.
“I’ll leave that up to him to make his decision as to what he wants to do, but good luck to him.”
Ted Richards on Lance Franklin
Anna Harrington
Fox Sports, April 6
TED Richards’ earliest memories of Lance Franklin are of trying to keep up with him.
The enigmatic Hawthorn forward always stood out with his supreme combination of power, strength and explosive athleticism — something Richards had to deal with time and time again as Sydney’s premier key defender.
Then, Franklin rocked the football world by signing with the Swans at the end of 2013. For Richards, a foe became a friend.
From the moment he arrived at Sydney, the gun forward started creating a whole new set of memories — both on and off the park.
Not long after the infamous move, Richards got to see another side to his new, high-profile teammate. It was an unexpected and memorable one, to say the least.
