Despite the apology, Franklin took to Twitter this morning to respond to the article, taking aim at Rowsell and alleging that she had been the instigator.



"Maybe the @theheraldsun should ask Nicky and publish why she approached me and what she said," Franklin said.



"I am not for one minute saying how I reacted was right but when someone comes up and verbally attacks me and the people I care about for no apparent reason I think it's only natural to defend yourself. But I guess that's not an appealing story is it."



Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett told 3AW he did not know the circumstances of the latest incident, but he believed that the public sometimes pushed public figures too far.

He criticised the club for not clarifying the situation.

"I do remember a couple of years ago he [Franklin] was in a situation [when] he was out at a nightclub in the evening and a girl came up to him and asked him to dance or something and he said no," Kennett said.

"She continued to make demands on him, he said no and then she continued and he said ‘piss off’ or something like that. Within minutes that was all over social media. There are two sides of every story.

"It is very hard for some leading people to go out and have a private life. I’m not saying that from time to time they don't do silly things.