In spite of what they say, Hawks got it wrong with Franklin
Posted by Football NationJul 10. 2012 10:27 am
FOOTBALL NATION OPINION
THE Hawthorn Football Club yesterday revealed that superstar Lance Franklin will miss at least the next three weeks after scans on his leg yesterday revealed that he had suffered bleeding in his left hamstring on Sunday.
The injury came in game where the Hawks administered a 162-belting of the one-win expansion club the GWS Giants.
We should also point out, not that we don’t already know, that Franklin had tweaked that same hamstring the previous week in a game against Carlton.
Those are all facts.
And from here we go on to opinion.
The opinion of the club, of course, is that it did the right thing in playing Franklin in the Giants game. Franklin had, after all, completed all of the required fitness testing protocols, and was, therefore, fit to play.
For the Hawthorn Football Club, the notion that they had invited disaster in playing their best player in a game that they would probably have won anyway is way off base and Franklin, being a good team player has supported that position.
Last night on Fox Footy’s On The Couch (video below) Franklin toed the company line.
“I went into the game very confident nothing was going to happen,” said Franklin.
“I did all the tests the physios and doctor told me to do. I passed those, and I was confident going into the game I was going to get through.
“It’s not the club’s fault. It’s not my fault either. It’s just a part of football. Injuries happen, and unfortunately it’s happened to me.”
In our opinion, and we think that this is shared by many, the mere fact that injuries can happen is why prudence is called for especially when dealing with your best player after even a minor tweak.
With games against the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood and Essendon in the next three weeks what higher purpose could possibly have been served by playing Franklin against a team that has averaged a mere 54 points a game?
It was a move that has paid the club back for its foolishness and it remains to be seen what the full impact of it will be.
Photo appears under the Creative Commons
Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Source: Flickr.com, User: raider of gin
Tags: Hawthorn, Lance Franklin
Filled under: Football Nation Feature, Hawthorn, Latest News
