Campbell said Franklin was “affected” by the reception from Hawthorn supporters on Saturday night.
Lance Franklin was disappointed with the “disrespectful” reception he received from Hawthorn supporters on Saturday night, according to his girlfriend Jesinta Campbell.
It was the second time Franklin faced his old club with the Sydney Swans, but the first time in front of a raucous Hawks home crowd.
Franklin was routinely booed and jeered each time he went near the ball, and his Sydney-based model girlfriend said the two-time premiership Hawk has affected by it.
“You see him getting heckled and you see the crowd yelling things to him and as a sportsman it’s part of it and you get used to dealing with it.” Campbell said.
“He was a massive part of that club for nine years and he was playing against his best friends he’s grown up with, and he still has a great admiration and respect for that football club,”
“I think it’s really difficult for him when he goes [to Melbourne].”
“But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it affected him.”
“I find it a little bit disrespectful. All of a sudden the supporters have forgotten the nine years.”
Franklin left the Hawks just days after winning the 2013 premiership, signing an unprecedented nine-year contract worth $10 million.
Campbell said that Franklin was not “invincible” and felt the effects of his treatment from Hawks fans.
“He’s a human at the end of the day, he feels everything that everyone else feels,” she said.
“Just because he’s on a football field and can kick goals and he’s this sporting legend doesn’t mean he’s invincible.
“I think people just have to be really conscious of the fact that he’s just like you and I, and he feels exactly the same way we feel.”
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