Hawthorn star Lance Franklin says he’s feeling no added emotion knowing next Saturday’s AFL grand final might be his last game for the club.
Franklin, kept to one goal in Friday night’s comeback 14.18 (102) to 15.7 (97) preliminary final win over Geelong, cast aside any doubt he might miss the game after injuring his elbow against the Cats.
The two-time Coleman Medallist has put off until post-season a decision on whether to take up a huge-money offer to join wooden spooners Greater Western Sydney.
But he said the possibility Saturday’s decider will be his Hawthorn farewell wasn’t on his mind.
“Not at all. It’s just another game,” Franklin told reporters on Saturday.
“It’s a grand final obviously, but it’s just another game in terms of the way we’re going about our training and going about the way we prepare.
“It hasn’t affected me at all in terms of my decision at the end of the season.”
Franklin went to the rooms after a collision with David Hale on Friday night, returning with his right elbow strapped.
But he said there was no notable damage and he would definitely play in the grand final.
Defender Brent Guerra, who copped a corked thigh and knock to the shoulder on Friday night, is also confident he’ll be fit to play.
But youngster Brendan Whitecross can expect another long stint on the sidelines, having almost certainly ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament for the second time, after also doing so in last year’s finals.
Franklin and fellow star forward Jarryd Roughead were both quiet on Friday night, with Roughead failing to kick a goal and missing a close-range shot just before halftime.
Poor kicking for goal was a team-wide problem that also cost the Hawks heavily in last year’s grand final, but Roughead said they weren’t too concerned.
“We’re getting the shots and that’s the good thing,” he said.
“Some of them weren’t easy.
“Some of them looked easy but when you’ve got 80,000 screaming at you I reckon you might find it a bit tough too.
“We’ll get out there again this week and just do what we’ve been doing all year, which is goal kicking practice and going through our routines.
“We should be no worries.”
He said the team kicking a winning score without big contributions from himself and Franklin was a positive.
“It shows that we’re not a one or two-dimensional forward line,” Roughead said.