{"id":616757,"date":"2026-04-19T08:43:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T08:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616757\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T08:43:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T08:43:31","slug":"lance-buddy-franklin-says-football-career-officially-done-after-comeback-game-for-hometown-club-dowerin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616757\/","title":{"rendered":"Lance \u2018Buddy\u2019 Franklin says football career \u2018officially done\u2019 after comeback game for hometown club Dowerin"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legendary Lance \u201cBuddy\u201d Franklin has declared his football career is \u201cofficially done\u201d after a remarkable comeback appearance for his junior side on Saturday.<\/p>\n

More than 20 years since he had last pulled on Dowerin\u2019s yellow and black guernsey, the AFL icon made his way back to the Wheatbelt to line up for his hometown club in their Mortlock Football League season opener.<\/p>\n

He kicked one goal and played a role in several others as the Tigers ran out 11.6 (72) to 5.8 (38) winners over Gingin in front of more than 3500 fans.<\/p>\n

Speaking to his Hawthorn premiership teammate Shane Crawford after the game with his daughter Tullulah at his side, the 39-year-old joked he felt \u201cevery bit\u201d of his age.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was tounging it, I\u2019ll tell you that much,\u201d Franklin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a turnout. It\u2019s unbelievable to be back home, it was awesome. It brought back so many memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to get a good win, but it was about giving back, having fun.<\/p>\n

\"BuddyCamera IconBuddy Franklin\u2019s Hawthorn premiership teammate Shane Crawford made the trip to Dowerin. Credit: Stuart Quinn\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

\u201cDowerin\u2019s played a huge part in getting me to where I am in life. I wouldn\u2019t be here if it wasn\u2019t for the footy club, getting down here as a six-year-old kid, then working my way through the juniors. It\u2019s a great club and it\u2019s nice to be home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franklin\u2019s appearance as part of Dowerin\u2019s efforts to raise $300,000 in order to install new lighting at their oval.<\/p>\n

Minus their estimated costs, the club raised $168,615 from the game, boosting their fundraising drive beyond the $200,000 mark.<\/p>\n

President Todd Quartermaine said they would be forever grateful for both Franklin\u2019s contribution and the efforts put in by dozens of volunteers ahead of and on the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last fortnight, it\u2019s been a lot of people doing a lot of hours. Before that, the main football committee and fundraising committee, it\u2019s probably been nine months of a lot of organising,\u201d he told The West Australian.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have such a good day too, we\u2019re spoilt. It\u2019s fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MoreCamera IconMore than 3500 fans turned out to see Buddy Franklin play in Dowerin. Credit: Stuart Quinn\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Crawford hailed the scenes of the regional community coming together by their thousands for the afternoon as \u201cincredible\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a pretty special day, because you\u2019re not just getting a player who has played AFL football, you\u2019re getting one of the all-time greats,\u201d Crawford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, everyone that\u2019s here, you remember the day forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The legendary Lance \u201cBuddy\u201d Franklin has declared his football career is \u201cofficially done\u201d after a remarkable comeback appearance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-616757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}