‘It doesn’t make sense’: Swans bemused after Collingwood fans boo Lance Franklin

AFL great Lance Franklin is the latest star player to be booed by opposition fans, leaving Sydney coach John Longmire bemused and Collingwood counterpart Craig McRae nonplussed.

Franklin, a likely Australian football Hall Of Fame legend, had a goalless game as the Magpies kicked clear in the last term on Sunday to beat Sydney by 29 points at the MCG.

The Magpies’ grinding 11.11 (77) to 6.12 (48) win in chilly conditions attracted 71,463 fans, some of whom decided Franklin was their villain for the afternoon.

“I don’t know why they would – why were they booing him?” Longmire said post-match. “You’d probably celebrate a 36-year-old, wouldn’t you, who’s been a champion of the game? It’s been 10 years since we’ve played Collingwood here ... it doesn’t make sense.”

McRae put it succinctly: “We just don’t boo”.

Collingwood fans were the first to boo Port Adelaide young gun Jason Horne-Francis earlier this season and it became a weekly occurrence, eventually prompting a heated response from Power coach Ken Hinkley.

A career-best five goals from Brody Mihocek, including a spectacular mid-air soccer strike in the last quarter, plus an outstanding captain’s game from Darcy Moore and Jack Ginnivan’s second-half cameo, highlighted the Magpies’ win.

The win keeps the Magpies at the top of the ladder, while the Swans have lost three in a row and are struggling with a 3-5 record. Mihocek was the only multiple goal kicker in the tough conditions and the Magpies sealed the win with five goals to one in the last term.

“Like the last two or three games, our pressure in the last quarter goes to another level,” McRae said. “Teams right now are struggling with that.”

Moore was a brick wall in defence and continually thwarted the Swans.