LANCE Franklin celebrated his 200th AFL game in style on Saturday, kicking nine goals in the Sydney Swans' 71-point belting of St Kilda, to move firmly into position for a third Coleman Medal.
Franklin ended the day with 9.4, the third time in his career he has kicked nine goals, second only to his personal best of 13 he booted against North Melbourne in 2012.
That has taken Franklin to 61 goals in his first season in Sydney, six clear of former teammate Jarryd Roughead, who will miss Hawthorn's clash with Fremantle on Sunday due to suspension.
Jay Schulz only managed one goal in Port Adelaide's victory over Gold Coast on Saturday to move to 54 for the season, two ahead of Geelong's Tom Hawkins.
Franklin had a few opportunities to bring up double figures for just the second time, including a set shot from right on 50m in the final minute of the match that went out on the full.
"I was a bit dead in the legs," Franklin said after the 19.13 (127) to 8.8 (56) victory. ”I couldn’t kick more than 50 (metres). I was buggered.
"I had nothing left in the tank and it went out on the full, which was disappointing. It would've been nice to sail through."
Yet it mattered little as the Swans, who started the season with a 1-3 record, won for the 15th time from their previous 16 matches to be in the ideal position just two weeks out from the finals.
Next up is a visit to Melbourne to meet the Western Bulldogs before the Swans finish the home and away season by hosting Richmond.
"The last 13 or 14 weeks has been good," Franklin said.
"Obviously the loss to Hawthorn (in round 18) was a bit of a hiccup, but the last couple of weeks have been really solid.
"We've got two more games and we're into finals, so we can't look any further than the Bulldogs next week.
"It's a good time of the year."
It wasn't all roses and champagne for the Swans, who picked up some injury concerns out of the game.
Josh Kennedy suffered some hamstring tightness in the first quarter and was substituted out as a precaution.
Craig Bird hurt his posterior cruciate ligament, although he was able to play out the game, and Dan Hannebery and Sam Reid also copped knocks but finished the match.
Swans coach John Longmire said Ben McGlynn was unlikely to return next week from a calf injury that kept him out of Saturday's game, while Nick Smith (back) and Rhyce Shaw (ankle) could be back to face the Dogs.
Kennedy, who has played 126 consecutive matches, was the biggest cause for alarm during the match, although Longmire said the injury might not be serious.
"He didn't feel an incident, he just said the hamstring got tight," Longmire said.
"Could he have kept playing? I don't know, but we were in front and we weren't going to risk Josh Kennedy.
"He's normally able to give some pretty reasonable feedback as far as how he's feeling.
"He just didn't feel confident in it and that's all that was discussed, so I'm not sure what happens from here.
"Hopefully it's just tightness and he's OK."
Overall, Longmire labelled Saturday a "pretty professional performance" against the AFL's bottom side.
Buddy was the undeniable star of the show and opposing coach Alan Richardson said his side had done all it could to slow him down.
"(Luke) Delaney has been in really good form as a big strong defender, but the form that Buddy was in, it didn't matter," Richardson said
"We tried to double team him and it probably quelled things to some extent because it was looking really ugly early, but I thought he was amazing today.
"Whenever the ball went near him it looked like he was going to get it.
"He is obviously an outstanding player, but he was almost unstoppable, for us anyway today."
