THE LANCE Franklin football story was always headed for the blockbuster chapter that can now be written next Saturday at the MCG.
In a career which started with headlines before it began, and which is now 18 years in the telling, the game's greatest rock star will get to play in a sixth Grand Final.
It will be appearance number 341, his 159th for Sydney and possibly the last of his career, after 182 with his first band, Hawthorn. As it stands, there are no Buddy concerts scheduled for 2023. This could be his last gig.
Franklin has always had a sense of theatre, so anything could happen against Geelong from 2.30pm AEST next Saturday.
Against Collingwood in last Saturday's gripping preliminary final at the SCG, Franklin was at times near his very best. His two first-half goals helped establish a six-goal lead. Most significantly, a contested mark he took on the wing just forward of centre inside the final two minutes was telling, as it ever so slightly slowed the near-compelling surge of the Magpies who ultimately failed by one point.
There has been some wild commentary attached to Franklin's movements since he crossed to Sydney after nine years at Hawthorn at the end of 2013, and there are still some who argue that he hasn't broken even on his part of the nine-year Swans deal, largely due to the failure of securing a premiership.
I've long been in the pro Buddy-as-a-Swan camp. To me, his impact in the Sydney marketplace was instantly every bit as grand as Tony Lockett's extraordinary stint which began in 1995.
Franklin was his then-new club's best player in the 2014 Grand Final loss to his old club, and unfortunately badly rolled an ankle in the opening Swans forward line play of the 2016 Grand Final loss to Western Bulldogs.
He has seven Swans leading goalkicker awards, and would have had nine had it not been for injury ruining his 2019 season (10 games only) and totally removing the 2020 season (no games).
While there have always been extraordinary numbers attached to Franklin – only four players in history have kicked more than his 1047 goals and he has been named All-Australian eight times – there have been equal doses of theatre. And in Grand Finals, he is in the red, with a 2-3 scoreline (wins in 2008 and 2013, losses in 2012, 2014 and 2016).
Already this season Franklin has moved from outside the famed 1000 Club to entering it as its the sixth member. He has since moved into the No.5 slot, passing Gary Ablett (1031).
Just 10 goals now separate him and the next on the list, Doug Wade.
No matter what happens next for Franklin, it won't change his already-earned status in advance as an Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend.
That was surely confirmed in round two at the SCG this year when he created beautiful moments and theatre in kicking his 1000th career goal, and that milestone came against the team he is to face on Saturday.
He has already once this season bamboozled the Cats. And while Tom Stewart, Sam De Koning and Jack Henry will be plotting his demise in the Grand Final, they will be well aware big Bud has many times before done the impossible.
At 35 years and 237 days, and athletically long past his 2008-18 prime, the game's greatest showman will again get to play on the game's greatest stage, possibly in his last gig.
No matter what happens on Saturday, as always with Buddy, his storyline will be the most compelling to follow. It's been that way since the days leading into him being drafted way back in 2004.
