Sydney ended an era on Saturday, with the retirement of star players and the beginning of the end for Lance Frankin who notched 300 games likely marking the final chapter of his career.
Franklin kicked four goals as the Swans farewelled some of their 2012 premiership heroes with a 45-point win over St Kilda at the SCG.
The Swans kicked 11 goals to three in Saturday afternoon’s second half to punish the wayward Saints, winning 17.7 (109) to 8.16 (64).
Franklin, who had missed eight games with hamstring issues, banged over some trademark long goals after a slow start.
Retiring Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack each kicked a goal in the final quarter of their last games before retiring.
McVeigh’s major meant he kicked at least one goal in each of his 16 seasons, and he moved up to joint second on the Swans’ appearance list with 325 games, level with former teammate Jude Bolton, who was at the ground.
With two other retiring Swans – Nick Smith and Heath Grundy, who weren’t playing, also chaired off the ground with Franklin – it was close to a perfect day for the majority of the 33,722 crowd.
Tweet from @AFL
One of the players chairing McVeigh off was former long-term teammate Dan Hannebery, one of the Saints’ best on the day.
Sydney looked on course for a comfortable win after their highest-scoring first quarter of the season, kicking 6.2 to lead by 21 points at quarter-time.
But, St Kilda threatened to play the role of party pooper after a dominant second term and hit the front by three points in the third.
Franklin didn’t see much of the ball early on and spent part of the first quarter on the bench.
Sydney had five goalkickers before Franklin notched his first major from a set shot after marking a Ben Ronke kick.
St Kilda finished 3-3 under caretaker coach Brett Ratten with both teams missing the finals.
Kangaroos edge out Demons
North Melbourne has finished a disappointing AFL season on a high note, Shaun Higgins kicking a last-gasp winner to break Melbourne hearts in a five-point thriller in Hobart.
Alex Neal-Bullen had the chance to draw scores level in a frantic finish, but his running shot from just inside 50 hit the post with nine seconds remaining, the Roos prevailing 13.10 (88) to 12.11 (83) at Blundstone Arena on Saturday.
Ben Brown was held to two goals to lead GWS star Jeremy Cameron by six goals in the race for the Coleman Medal, with the Giants to face Gold Coast on Saturday night.
Tweet from @AFL
The match was the final farewell for North’s Scott Thompson and Melbourne’s Jordan Lewis, both prominent in their AFL swan song.
Higgins starred for the Roos with 34 possessions and two goals, with Jared Polec (29 touches and two goals) also eye-catching as North improved their win-loss record to 10-12, with seven wins and five losses under Rhyce Shaw.
The gut-wrenching result was in some ways a fitting end to a horrendous season for Melbourne, who finish 17th with a 5-17 record after making last year’s preliminary final.
-with AAP
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