HAWTHORN champion Dermott Brereton has given a scathing indictment of Buddy Franklin’s time at the Sydney Swans declaring John Longmire and the coaching staff have not made the most of his talents.

The five-time premiership player said after five years with Franklin the Swans would have expected to have won multiple flags.

Franklin was lured to Sydney from Hawthorn before the 2014 season on a ground-breaking nine-year deal worth $10 million.

Finals Week 1

“The basic feel of it, on the eve Lance Franklin’s first game five years ago, was ’what does this look like in five years time?’” Brereton said on AFL 360.

“And it would probably have been the answer: ’We’d love a premiership but if luck goes against us we probably win two, getting the best forward in the game since Wayne Carey’.”

“Then why play defensive football?”

Brereton said because of Franklin’s “big ticket” signing the Swans had been forced to lose a host of players including Tom Mitchell, Shane Mumford and Toby Nankervis.

Brereton believes the swans have not made the most Lance Franklin’s skills. Source: Getty Images

“You’ve got an asset there that is the best key forward our game has seen in 20 years, yet they play to protect their back six,” Brereton said

“If I’m on the board I’m going to say ‘is this the way we really want to play?’”

Host Mark Robinson then pressed Brereton on Franklin.

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“Are you saying that John Longmire hasn’t fully utilised the talents of Lance Franklin? Robinson asked.

“I don’t think he has, I don’t think the coaching staff led by John Longmire has”.

In a broader discussion of the Swans’ premiership credentials, Brereton said their major downfall is that they don’t score enough compared to the other teams in the competition.

The Swans have scored over 100 points on five occasions this season, with Brereton questioning whether they are making the most of having superstar forward Franklin inside 50.

“I reckon if you have a look at the teams that win the premierships, they’re all very ,very good when the time is right at finals, at scoring heavily.

“Longmire’s an A-Grade citizen but he’s a coach who coaches for the right aspect of his men, mentally sound, solid – they play defensive football.

“Sydney against good opposition, don’t score heavily. They scored against West Coast first round, when West Coast got it wrong. They scored against St Kilda, they’ve probably had two other games – other than that, they’re seven more wins than the Brisbane Lions, they’ve kicked six goals more than them for the season.”

Brereton explained that “if you kick 90 (points) you win” against the Swans and questioned whether a change of tactics could enhance Sydney’s premiership chances.

“Richmond changed the way they played late last year and they won a premiership. It’s in his (John Longmire) DNA to be defensive, it was in Roosy’s (Paul Roos) DNA to be defensive before him. So all they have known in Sydney is defensive football,” he said.

“I wonder what they think in the last eight games of the season, if they play the last four, if the shackles are thrown off.”

Brereton’s former Hawthorn teammate Jason Dunstall says that by the Swans playing a defensive style, it allows for them to drop games they should be winning.

“They’ve always played a defensive game style. We know that and that’s why when we play Sydney, if you kick 80 or 90 points you’re in the game. Which is why they lose a couple of games that they probably shouldn’t,” Dunstall said.

“I think they’ve been so successful with a tried and true formula, so you bring in a weapon like Lance Franklin, you can do the best you can do in the confides of our system.

“I think he’s admitted over the last two years that they’d like to be scoring two-three more goals a game, but they haven’t quite found the right way to do it.”

Franklin and Longmire embrace. Source: News Corp Australia

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Dunstall suggested that the Swans’ loss to Gold Coast last weekend was “very un-Sydney like” and believes that Friday night’s clash with Essendon will provide another test for the top eight side.

“It was very un-Sydney like to drop that. They’re the most professional outfit we’ve seen for decades, they just don’t drop games like they did last week,” Dunstall said.

“I’m really excited about the match up against the Bombers, because the Bombers have got a weapon that troubles Sydney and that’s speed. Leg speed and ball speed. I’m really looking forward to this match. It’s a toss of the coin.

“They’re a team that scores, they utilise their assets and they have some assets upfront, and they play a game that allows it. They’re vulnerable defensively Essendon, so it will be interesting if Sydney can take advantage.”