Phil Davis has added more spice to his celebrated AFL rivalry with Lance Franklin by revealing the reason for his heated exchange with Sydney spearhead late in the GWS’s elimination final win.
With the game well in the Giants’ keeping, Davis and Franklin were involved in a fiery push and shove in the final quarter at the SCG on Saturday night.
Davis, who kept Franklin goalless, told 3AW on Sunday that he was still upset with the circumstances surrounding the hip injury that ruled him out of the second half of the round 22 clash with the Swans.
In that incident, Franklin nudged Davis into teammate Rory Lobb with the resulting collision leaving the GWS co-captain struggling to walk.
Davis felt like Franklin tried to do it again at the SCG and the star defender was none too pleased.
“I don’t (usually) have too much to say but I did a little bit in the last quarter … I was a bit unhappy with a couple of things that happened,” he said.
“I thought he tried to push me into a contest like he did a few weeks before and I wasn’t very happy about that…
“A few weeks before he caused me not to be able to participate in the second half.
“It was still on my mind so I was a bit unhappy about that.
“There was a bit of argy bargy after that but I didn’t have much to say prior to that.”
A rampant GWS set up a semi-final against Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday night with the 49-point win that ended Sydney’s season.
Davis was best afield for his job on Franklin, with Toby Greene also outstanding with 27 possessions and three goals.
But the main talking point from Greene’s performance was the re-emergence of his controversial, studs-up method of protecting his space in a marking contest.
Greene was fined last year for collecting the Western Bulldogs’ Luke Dahlhaus in the face with his outstretched leg and the star forward employed the same tactic several times against the Swans.
“Toby’s just protecting his space … it’s been around the game for many years,” Davis said.
“I think if the AFL don’t like the look of it they might have to look into it … but for me it’s just part of the game.
“The one with Dahlhaus last year was a different set of circumstances, and that wasn’t great, but last night none of those to me looked dangerous or harmful.”