In football, as in everyday life, there is nothing quite like proving people wrong. Or doing something they said you’d never be able to do. It provides an inner satisfaction for the ‘doer’ that many don’t fully appreciate.

On Friday night Lance Franklin and Paddy McCartin will share that inner satisfaction with milestones that would ordinarily go largely unrecognised when the Swans face the Western Bulldogs at the SCG.

Franklin will play his 150^th game for the Swans, and McCartin the 50^th game of his AFL career.

Franklin 150? So what, the cynics might say. Sixty-nine Swans players have already done so, and he’s already played 331 games overall. Who really cares?

And McCartin 50? So what, again. Forty-four players drafted with him have beaten him to this minor milestone and it’s taken him nearly eight years.

But the fact is both milestones are special.

For Franklin and key football decision-makers at the Swans it is vindication of a nine-year contract that most said was longer than Franklin would play.

The now 35-year-old will claim a place in club history as the oldest Swans player to reach 150 games.

For McCartin it will be a more personal milestone. A private triumph for the now 26-year-old #1 draft pick who for a long time faced the realisation that his AFL career had ended four years ago.

It was July 7, 2018. McCartin played his 35^th game for St Kilda against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval. He had six possessions in a six-goal loss and finished with a foot injury that ended his season.

When he suffered his eighth concussion in a pre-season game in March 2019, the writing was on the wall. His 35^th game would almost certainly be his last.

For McCartin to even reach 50 games is a wonderful story. But for him to do so after such a long absence while quickly establishing himself as a vital cog in Sydney’s defensive unit this year is even better.

There is more to both stories that add detail to the significance of both milestones.

Franklin will be the 70^th player to play 150 games for the Swans. He was 27 years and 44 days old when he wore red and white for the first time in Round 1, 2014 against GWS at Giants Stadium.

Of the 69 other 150-gamers ahead of him, 58 were aged 21 or younger in their Swans debut and eight were 22 or 23. Barry Hall was 25 years 51 days, Rod Carter 25 years 173 days, and Barry Round 26 years 68 days.

Yet already Franklin has outlasted all but five teammates from his first Sydney side, with only Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker, Dane Rampe, Sam Reid and Harry Cunningham still at the club.

And on June 25, Franklin reached an altogether different milestone which underscores not just his durability and longevity, but also his extraordinary all-round talents. In Round 15 he became the 157^th AFL player since the League started recording such numbers in 1965 to reach 5000 possessions. And arguably the first key forward.

The ‘argument’ is whether four members of the 5000 Club – Bernie Quinlan (6049), Nick Riewoldt (5613), Terry Daniher (5278) and Chris Grant (5014) – should be classified as key forwards.

Regardless, Franklin is in exclusive company. And in addition to his career average of 15.2 possessions per game, his 1027 career goals far exceed that of Quinlan (817), Riewoldt (718), Daniher (469) and Grant (554).

Of the 677 players who played in the AFL in Franklin’s last year at Hawthorn in 2013, 144 are still in the AFL. At the time of his move to Sydney he ranked second in career games among this group with 182, behind only Fremantle’s David Mundy (186).

Now, at the end of a contract supposedly too long, he is still fourth among this group at 331, behind only Mundy (367), Scott Pendlebury (348) and Joel Selwood (346), despite missing the entire 2020 season with injury.

In his 149 games for Sydney, Franklin has kicked 447 goals. Only Geelong’s Tom Hawkins (489) and West Coast’s Josh Kennedy (482) have kicked more goals in the same period, but they’ve played 194 and 169 games. Hawkins has averaged 2.52 goals per game and Kennedy 2.85 goals per game. Franklin has averaged 3.00 goals per game.

In the same period only five other players among the ‘survivors’ of 2013 have topped 300 goals – Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt (422 goals at 2.29 goals per game), Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron (421 at 2.57), Richmond’s Tom Lynch (388 at 2.31), Adelaide’s Taylor Walker (356 at 2.20) and West Coast’s Jack Darling (349 at 1.91).

Conversely, the McCartin numbers don’t show what he has done – they show what he has been denied by his horrendous run with head knocks after he was the #1 ranked player among 101 first-time AFL draftees in 2014.

Of them, 51 are no longer in the AFL. Gold Coast co-captain Touk Miller (153 games), Brisbane vice-captain Harris Andrews (151) and Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard (149) have played most games among the Class of 2014, while McCartin has seen 22 players reach 100 games and 44 get to 50 games.

Closer to home, while Paddy McCartin has waited 2,639 days since his debut to get to 50 games, younger brother Tom was 1051 days. A difference of 1588 days, or four years and four months.

And yet, in examples of players who will draw inspiration from the McCartin persistence, nine players among those drafted with him in 2014 who are still in the system are yet to reach 50 games – selection #6 Caleb Marchbank (49), #10 Nakia Cockatoo (41), pick #16 Sam Durdin (23), #50 Marc Pittonet (38), #76 Alec Waterman (22), #84 Billy Frampton (18) and ex-rookies Roarke Smith (44), Brayden Preuss (25) and Ivan Soldo (47).