Of course Buckley has often reminded Lynch he still owes him half a Mitsubishi for the ride that won him mark of the year. But he does concede it was a solid leap from the premiership Lion turned boundary rider,particularly given he had to spring from the gluepot that covered half the MCG more than 30 years ago.
Buckley is also well aware that he copped a nice old shove before the mark was taken,from Paul Roos,who now works as a consultant at North Melbourne.
But he knows no one cares about the detail,because 32 years after a fleeting moment in the 30th match of his 74-game career,there was fun to be had at his expense and all he could do was laugh at being the butt of everyone’s jokes.
Media staffer to drinks carrier is like a duck to water
It’s all hands on deck these days at AFL clubs,with football department caps forcing everyone to multi-task.
On interstate trips resources become even tighter. COVID-19 restrictions shrink the pool even further,particularly when clubs are thrown into lockdown for a week as the Western Bulldogs were before they played the Eagles last Sunday.
Even media managers aren’t off-limits,particularly ones as amenable as the Bulldogs’ Nick Duxson,who found himself carrying the drinks (a good role for an ex-Cricket Australia employee) during the round 15 clash. He had also chipped in when the Bulldogs beat Fremantle.
He kept his role in the win pretty quiet,but could not escape attention when television cameras spotted him out in the middle handing out drinks (of the sporting variety) when Riley Garcia kicked his first goal in AFL football.
Of course given his love of a parma,Snap Shot suspects Duxson could have done with an ice bath at the end of it all.
Just savouring ‘Buddy’ Franklin
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Sometimes it’s worth remembering how good Lance Franklin has been in this era as he moved to sixth on the all-time goalkicking listwith four goals against Port Adelaide on Saturday, passing Richmond legend Jack Titus’ 970 goals. He now sits just 27 goals away from joining the five men (Tony Lockett,Gordon Coventry,Jason Dunstall,Doug Wade,Gary Ablett) who kicked 1000 goals in their careers.
Franklin’s goals-per-game average is a ridiculous 3.14. The next best current player average belongs to Geelong star Jeremy Cameron on 2.51 goals per game,one of just six other current players to average more than two goals a game over at least 50 games.
In round 15 Buddy was one of just 12 of the 414 players to kick at least three goals in a game. His four were equal to the biggest bag of the round.
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