Sydney star forward Lance Franklin has been ruled out of the Swans’ final against Fremantle this weekend with what the club has called an “ongoing mental health condition”.
The Swans put out a statement on Tuesday saying Franklin was receiving treatment for the condition.
“Our first priority is looking after Lance’s health,” Swans general manager of football Tom Harley said in the statement.
“Lance has been open with the club about his condition and while we consider it a private medical matter, he is aware he has our full support.”
Harley said there was no clear timeline for Franklin’s return to football.
The Swans also confirmed reports Franklin had suffered a mild epileptic seizure on Friday morning at a Bondi cafe, with the star forward briefly hospitalised.
Franklin was cleared by medical staff to play against Gold Coast on Saturday, and the Swans have stated his epilepsy is not related to his mental health issues.
Sydney coach John Longmire told reporters Franklin’s situation was “serious”.
“It has been an ongoing issue for a while with Lance but these things are very private,” he said.
“It is a condition that is very treatable but he needs time to be able to treat it and that is what we are giving him.
“He wants people to know about it and understand what he is going through. It is serious but treatable.
“In regards to this you need to put the football to one side. It is a challenge for him every day not just a football thing.
“He is confident he will be able to get the treatment required but we are not going to sit here and put a date on when he returns.”
Captain Jarrad McVeigh said Franklin’s team-mates were dealing with the news.
“Obviously it is a shock to a lot of the boys. Bud is in a place where he can get the best support at the moment,” McVeigh said.
“It is a very personal thing and private matter with doctors. It is not something you know about until he put his hand up.”
Dockers defender Garrick Ibbotson said Franklin’s health was the most important thing moving forward.
“We only just heard about it, probably about five minutes ago, so I know that the Sydney football club have said that they want to respect his privacy, so we’re going to follow with that and with respect not say much about it. We don’t really know what it is,” Ibbotson said.
“He is a pretty good player… he did play a good game late in the final (against the Dockers) last year, I think he moved up to the wing and played really quite well. I don’t know what it is but hopefully for his sake he gets over it.”
Dockers midfielder Stephen Hill wished Franklin all the best.
“It’s not good for anyone if it’s mental (health) sort of stuff, so hopefully the club will support him and hopefully it goes well with him,” Hill said.
Ibbotson said Sydney had the depth to cover for the likes of Franklin, and did not think the absence of several key Swans for Saturday’s match would change Fremantle’s preparations.
“That is something we speak about a lot. Names don’t mean anything when you come to play a game of footy and we know that whoever is going to be on the park is going to be a formidable opponent for us, and we have to prepare the best way we can to get the job done,” Ibbotson said.
“They’re a quality club, a really proud club. Our philosophy is that if one goes out, the next one comes in and plays a role, and we know that as an AFL club they’ll be thinking the same. If we’re not on our game we’ll easily get beaten.
“They’ll have guys who are chomping at the bit to get into the team and will play a role for them, for sure.”
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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Top Comments
Good on him for sharing his story. The more people, especially high profile, that come out and discuss mental illness, the better.
I really hope he's getting the help he needs and has a good support system. Mental illness can be so isolating.