Lance Franklin, also known as Buddy Franklin, is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League. He previously played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 2005 to 2013. Regarded as the greatest forward of his generation and among the greatest players of all time, Franklin is the seventh-highest goalkicker in VFL/AFL history with 944 career goals, the most of any current player, and has led his clubs' goalkicking on eleven occasions. He has been selected in the All-Australian team on eight occasions, including as captain in the 2018 team, and has won four Coleman Medals throughout his career, with his biggest haul coming in 2008 with Hawthorn, when he kicked 113 goals for the year.
Franklin won two premierships, four All-Australian selections, two Coleman Medals and a Peter Crimmins Medal in his time at Hawthorn. He was Hawthorn's leading goalkicker for six consecutive seasons prior to his final season at the club in 2013, and also kicked the AFL Goal of the Year on two occasions. He also received a nomination for the 2005 AFL Rising Star award in round 4 of the 2005 season.