Glamour AFL forced to send a strong message after horror start to the 2014 season.
The Sydney Swans have gone into damage control with rumours of problems between new recruit Lance Franklin and veteran Ryan O’Keefe failing to go away.
In the wake of their shock 32-point loss to cross-town rivals Greater Western Sydney, the Swans have been forced to address the Franklin-O’Keefe issue.
The pair were said to have engaged in a fight during training before their loss to the newest club in the AFL, which resulted in O’Keefe not being considered for selection.
However, Swans manager of football operations Dean Moore said anything like that was a complete lie.
“It’s a wild and totally baseless rumour,” Moore said.
“We first heard about it today and when I asked Ryan about it he actually laughed.
“It is a total fabrication.”
Franklin, who joined the Swans this off-season on a rich, lone-term deal has a bad start to his tenure in red and white, kicking one goal and gaining just seven possessions in a game many tipped the Swans to win by plenty.
O’Keefe did eventually play against the Giants but only after senior player Kieren Jack was forced to withdraw due to injury.
Sydney will need a strong result in an out-of-sorts Collingwood in round two, and if they can do that and Franklin and O’Keefe can appear to be on the same page during the game, the rumors of a rift should dissolve.
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