Greater Western Sydney co-captain Callan Ward’s gut feeling is that Lance Franklin will be playing alongside him next season.
But GWS coach Kevin Sheedy says the fledgling AFL club are also eyeing several other experienced players and won’t take a Buddy-or-bust attitude to their off-season recruiting.
“We’ll be looking at four or five players, it’s not only Buddy we’d be interested in,” Sheedy told reporters on Wednesday.
“We’ve got to look with an open mind in regard to who we can get.
“We just can’t put all our eggs in one basket, because in the end we’ve got to improve the experience in different positions of the ground.”
The Giants are out to lure Franklin with a long-term package reportedly worth close to $2 million per season.
But with young gun key forward Jeremy Cameron already having proved himself one of the game’s fastest-rising stars, the highly-rated Jon Patton due back from injury next year and another tall forward, Tom Boyd, tipped to go to the Giants with this year’s No.1 draft pick, there has been conjecture another forward isn’t what the Giants most need.
Ward nominated a ruckman and key defender when asked what sort of players the club should target.
But the 22-year-old, who himself was lured to the Giants from the Western Bulldogs in late 2011 by a rich five-year deal, felt Franklin would also take the bait.
“My gut feel is probably yes,” Ward told Melbourne’s SEN radio.
“I would have no idea. I hope he does, he’s obviously a great player, he’s extremely talented.
“I think at the Giants he’ll be great for us.”