He wears red and white, but everyone in football loves Lance Franklin. And at the Gabba on Friday night Brisbane fans will get perhaps their last opportunity to watch the champion make what has been a curiously rare appearance at the Gabba.

In 19 years and 350 games Franklin has played at the Gabba only seven times for Hawthorn (2005-13) and Sydney (2014-23).

He lost his first three visits with the Hawks in 2005-06-07 before kicking eight goals and picking up three Brownlow votes in a 12-point win in 2008. 

It was seven years before he returned with the Swans but enjoyed three wins from three visits in 2015-16-18, delivering another epic in 2016 when he kicked five goals in a three-point Swans win.

Brisbane and Sydney, comrades in so many facets of the game these days against the so-called “Melbourne mafia”, will meet for the 56^th time on Friday night.

Brisbane are slightly on the wrong side of a 24-1-30 head-to-head record, but have won three of the last four meetings in 2019-22 after a forgettable 0-11 run from 2010-18, which included seven consecutive losses at the Gabba.

It’s 9-1-13 overall at the Gabba in favor of Sydney, was 3-2 to Brisbane at Carrara and is 1-0 in Cairns after the sides met there in the Covid season of 2020. The Swans have enjoyed a 13-10 edge at the SCG and 2-1 at Stadium Australia.

A Day to Remember
If there’s one game against Sydney that will stick vividly in the memory of long-time Gabba goers it is the Round 8 game of 1993, when the then Bears won 33-21 (219) to 8-9 (57). It was the highest score and biggest win in Brisbane history, and the 12^th highest score and equal 10^th biggest win in AFL history.

It was 10-7 to 0-1 at quarter-time, 19-10 to 0-4 at halftime and 27-17 to 2-6 at three-quarter time before the Bears ‘won’ the final quarter 6-4 to 6-3 in a game in which the great Ron Barassi coached the Swans for the second time after Gary Buckanara had been sacked and Brett Scott had filled in for two games.

Roger Merrett, in his 251^st game, and Michael Murphy, in his 26^th and fourth-last game, kicked a career-best eight goals, Brendan McCormack, ex-Fitzroy utility in the fourth of 12 games for the Bears, kicked a career-high four goals, and ex-StKilda rover Danny Craven, in his third Bears game, had a game-high 31 possessions.

And yet all four missed the Brownlow Medal votes. Nathan Buckley, in his eighth game, had 28 touches and kicked two goals for three votes – his third three-voting rating in a row – while Matthew Kennedy (28 possessions, two goals) and Troy Clarke (23 possessions, one goal) took the minor votes.

 _{📸 Image: Adam Goodes}

Brownlow Medal Votes
Dual Sydney Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes has been the king of the AFL’s northern derby, playing 28 times for 19 Brownlow Medal votes. He polled nine teams and was best afield four times. Michael Voss (10) leads the Brisbane vote from Jason Akermanis (9), Nigel Lappin (9), Roger Merrett (8) and Dayne Zorko (7). Barry Hall (11), Jude Bolton (11), Dan Hannebery (10), Josh Kennedy (9) and Kieren Jack (8) are next best for Sydney.

Major Possession-Winners
Sydney’s Greg Williams has held the record for most possessions in a game between Sydney and Brisbane since the second meeting in 1988. He had 41 possessions at the SCG. It is a mark that was equalled by Josh Kennedy at the Gabba in 2015. Brisbane’s best is Dayne Beams’ 38 at the Gabba in 2018. Kennedy has had most 30-possession games in the northern derby with six, from Sydney’s Barry Mitchell (5), Williams (4) and Dan Hannebery (4), while Dayne Zorko (3) and Tom Rockliff (3) are Brisbane’s best.

Major Goal-Kickers
Tony Lockett, AFL all-time leading goal-kicker, kicked double-figure goals 14 times in his career of 281 games and 1360 goals. Which opposition teams did the St.Kilda/Sydney superstar feast on most often? Brisbane and Sydney. He topped 10 goals against each club four times (despite playing 98 games for the Swans).

He missed out against Essendon, 1995 expansion team Fremantle, Geelong and StKilda, where he played 183 games, topped 10 goals against Adelaide three times and Carlton twice, and once each against Collingwood, Fitzroy, Hawthorn, Melbourne, North Melbourne, 1997 expansion team Port Adelaide, Richmond, Western Bulldogs and West Coast.

Lockett’s 11 goals for Sydney against Brisbane at the SCG in Round 9 1996 is the most in a game between the clubs. Brisbane’s best is John Hutton’s eight at Carrara in 1992, and the rare double of eight apiece to Roger Merrett and Michael Murphy at the Gabba in 1993.

Lance Franklin kicked eight at the Gabba in 2008, while five players have kicked seven – Brisbane’s Cameron O’Brien, John Gastev and Alastair Lynch, and Sydney’s Lockett and Mark Bayes.

The Only Final
Brisbane and Sydney have met only once in a final – the 2003 preliminary final at Stadium Australia – when the Lions kicked 6-6 to 0-1 in the final quarter to win by 44 points. It was the game in which Nigel Lappin suffered broken ribs in a collision with teammate Shaun Hart, setting up his unbelievable effort of playing in the grand final the following week with not just broken ribs but a punctured lung unknowingly suffered in a fitness test the day before the game.

Welcome Home, Tom
Swans ruckman Tom Hickey, a born-and-bred Brisbane boy, will play his 143^rd AFL game this week and just his fourth game in his home city. Oddly, his three previous games at the Gabba have been for three different clubs – StKilda in 2015, West Coast in 2019 and Sydney in 2021.

^{📸 Images Left to Right: Andrew Dunkley, Josh Dunkley}

Son of a (Sydney) Gun
Josh Dunkley, son of 217-game Swans fullback Andrew Dunkley, will play for the sixth time against his father’s club this week and the first time in Brisbane colours.

Highs & Lows
Sydney’s highest score against Brisbane is 22-17 (149) at the Gabba in 1998, when Tony Lockett kicked seven and Daryn Cresswell (31 possessions, one goal) and Wayne Schwass (28 possessions, one goal) topped the Brownlow Medal votes in Paul Roos’ 350^th AFL game and Schwass’ 200^th.

Their biggest winning margin against Brisbane is 84 points at Stadium Australia in 2005, when Barry Hall kicked six goals for three votes, Ryan O’Keefe had 25 possessions and three goals for two votes, and Craig Bolton 25 possessions for one vote against his former side.

Sydney Form Guide
The Swans will bring a 5-6 record to Brisbane, having started with wins over Gold Coast at Carrara (49 points) and Hawthorn in Sydney (81 points) before a 44-point Round 5 win over Richmond at Adelaide Oval in Gather Round was their only joy after losses to Melbourne (50 points) at the MCG and Port Adelaide (2 points) at the SCG and before losses to Geelong (93 points) at Geelong, GWS (1 point), Collingwood (29 points) at the MCG and Fremantle (17 points) at the SCG. They got things back on track with a lucky three-point SCG win over North – when an interchange infringement against North gifted the Swans the winning goal – and a 26-poibt SCG win over Carlton.

Chad Warner, averaging 25.4 possessions per game, is the Swans’ No.1 ball-winner this year from Luke Parker (24.6ppg), Errol Gulden (24.3ppg), Jake Lloyd (23.4ppg), Ollie Florent (21.3ppg) and Nick Blakey (20.2ppg). Tom Papley (20) is their leading goal-kicker from the injured Logan McDonald (16), Will Hayward (12), Lance Franklin (12) and Isaac Heeney (10).

Parker will return to the side this week after his run of 99 consecutive games ended with a sling tackle suspension, while Florent will head north coming off a career-best 34 touches against Carlton.

In the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year Award, Warner (35) leads the Sydney vote from Parker (23), Gulden (19) and Blakey (17).