Lance 'Buddy' Franklin announced his return to football this week, revealing he will play a game for his junior club, Dowerin Football Club. The news landed like a bolt from the blue to a footy community still adjusting to life without one of the game's greatest forwards.
Franklin has not played since calling time on his remarkable 354-game career at the top level in 2023. His decision to hang up the boots came after a calf injury that prompted his immediate retirement. But this Dowerin appearance will give one of the code's genuine legends a chance to pull on the boots one more time where it all started.
Dowerin is two hours north-east of Perth, nestled in WA's central Wheatbelt farming country. Franklin started there when he was six years of age, developing his craft on the local fields that shaped him into the forward who would eventually become a household name across two continents.
The one-off appearance carries genuine significance beyond nostalgia. Franklin's appearance is designed to help raise funds to install new lighting at Dowerin's home ground. The pair are targeting $300,000 in fundraising to deliver this long-needed upgrade to a grassroots club that helped build Australia's football legend.
He is teaming up with AIA, which will help power the fundraiser for the community lighting project. It is a partnership with clear purpose: Franklin gives back to the town that gave him his foundation.
At 39, Franklin has prepared himself seriously for the prospect of returning to match footy. The 39-year-old has improved his fitness in recent months, completing the New York Marathon last November. That effort speaks volumes about his commitment to the occasion. This is not a token appearance; it is a chance to compete and contribute.
Franklin will line up for the Tigers against the Gingin Eagles in Round 1 on April 18. The local footy community will have its moment. Franklin never thought he'd get the opportunity for his junior football club but it's popped up, this opportunity.
There is something deeply Australian about this moment. A man who conquered the world's toughest football competition returns home to the paddock where he first kicked a footy as a kid. He does it not for contract or glory, but to help his town. Franklin finished his career as the fourth-most successful goal-kicker in VFL/AFL history with 1,066 goals, an eight-time All-Australian and four-time Coleman Medallist. Yet in Dowerin, none of that matters as much as what he's about to give back.
This is grassroots footy at its truest. Franklin grew up in Dowerin, WA with his mother Ursula, a Whadjuk-Noongar woman, father Lance Snr and sister Bianca. He is rooted here. The lights project is a symbol of that bond and the mutual respect between player and community.