Private matters: Swans coach John Longmire chats with his superstar forward Buddy Franklin. Credit:Peter Rae He continues to receive regular treatment and according to Longmire: "He is [doing well] and he's feeling really good about himself. The support is ongoing." The deeply sensitive issue of mental health combined with the intensely private side to Franklin leads the Sydney coach to talk mainly in broad terms about the scourge of depression, high anxiety and mental illness generally that has impacted upon his football club. But he does admit that his hands-on approach to Franklin followed the same pattern as other players with mental health problems who Longmire has coached. Longmire's conversations with Franklin about his issues did not take priority over the experts but according to club bosses were significantly beneficial in the 31-year-old's return to football and the public arena. "If a player has an issue," said Longmire, "then it's important I'm not working with him in a way that's counter productive to his health. That's the reason I need to know and that's been my view before Lance. "I don't need to know everything but I'm very conscious that if I'm talking to a player and potting his game then that can be damaging.

"There's no point talking about game plans and games and performances if the player is not feeling right normally." Just as Franklin's former club Hawthorn was unaware that he suffered from mental illness, the Swans too only learnt shortly before his self-imposed departure from the game the extent of the star player's fragility. But there is no doubt Franklin could not have been in better hands in AFL terms after revealing his issues to his new club. Even before he spoke up the Swans had become acutely aware of the two Franklins - the on-field Buddy and the off-field Lance. Interestingly chairman Andrew Pridham, CEO Andrew Ireland and Longmire all refer to him as Lance. When Longmire addressed the AFL Commission after Sydney's 2012 premiership victory he spoke of the prevalence of mental illness within that team and the importance of managing up to five Swans grand final players who suffered to various levels. More recently, but again before Franklin's illness became known, Longmire wrote to AFL boss Gillon McLachlan and urged him to remove the cost of club psychologists and player welfare managers from the football department soft cap.

"This is not something that's come to me in the past six months," said Longmire. "I'm mindful that psychological services are crucial and it should never come down to a choice between a football person and a psychologist." The AFL is reviewing the soft cap and has not yet indicated whether it has taken Longmire's views on board. While Longmire and Franklin spoke about his issues, the coach stressed that the most critical role in helping Franklin within the football department was Sydney's welfare boss Dennis Carroll. He also stressed that each player he has dealt with at Sydney decides how much personal information they are comfortable sharing with the coach. In most but not all cases Longmire's preference is that the conversation is a direct one between Longmire and the player. "If they're not comfortable it doesn't get to me," said the coach. "Every situation is different. Not one size fits all." Sydney remains a rarity in the AFL in that it employs not a sport psychologist but a clinical psychologist.

Pridham and Ireland have both said of Franklin that his decision to step away from football on the eve of the finals was a non-negotiable and forced upon him by his fragile mental state at the time. Not only did he seek help immediately but Franklin and his fiancee also later holidayed overseas before he returned to training at the end of November, a vacation the club believed was crucial. He continues to seek regular treatment from the female specialist who has guided him through his illness, an illness that went undiagnosed for many years and dates back to his early teens. "If you are struggling I definitely recommend that you ask for help," was one of the champion footballer's first public comments after returning to pre-season training, "because it will change your life." Franklin also admitted he had found it hard to open up to people about his issues. Pridham often says to observers who have commented otherwise that it was not a difficult move to sanction Franklin's decision to step away from football at such a crucial time. Just as it was a non-negotiable when Adam Goodes stepped away from playing for a week after the horrendous booing he endured at Domain Stadium last season against West Coast.

In both cases there was no choice - Goodes, too, for entirely different reasons was in a state of despair and completely unfit to play - but Pridham added: "I'm sure in the past there were circumstances where a player played who was really in no fit state to do so." The Swans board met on Thursday and again tackled just how the club should balance taking a stand on social issues such as mental health, same sex marriage, domestic violence and Indigenous affairs. "Do we take a leadership position with these things," said Pridham, " and potentially disenfranchise some of our members or do we say we're just a footy club and not speak up? The view of the board is that as the biggest sporting club in New South Wales we can and we should take the high moral ground on important social issues. "We don't force this on our players but we can and we should do the right thing and send a message to society. "In the case of Lance, just as we've seen this week with Chris Yarran, this is just the tip of the iceberg. People have no idea how prevalent mental illness is thanks to the pressures of daily life.

"We totally support John's [Longmire's] view that this is not an area where football clubs should compromise. He is a passionate person and he's passionate about this through his background with the players association." Not every coach takes such a hands-on approach to their players' welfare but the Swans' bosses believe that Longmire's approach has provided a healthy balance between the on- and off-field. Said the coach: "Over many years as a player at North I've seen plenty of cases where players have struggled and I've seen it here as a coach. It's normal inside football clubs and it's normal in society and every case is different. "Some people forget that these players are humans with families and friends and extended families. They have issues that shouldn't really make the public arena but sometimes that's not preventable."