THE RUMOURS are true. Lance Franklin and Ryan O'Keefe did come to blows at Sydney Swans training.
Rather than the fanciful dust-up prior to round one that has been reported in some circles, however, it was a tongue-in-cheek sparring session organised by coach John Longmire on Friday morning.
In a light-hearted response to some of the wild accusations swirling around the club, Franklin and O'Keefe donned the gloves and went head-to-head, much to the amusement of those around them.
"They had a sparring session before training," Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh said as he burst out in a huge grin.
"'Horse' (Longmire) got the boxing gloves over in the corner.
"We're just laughing about that type of stuff (the rumours). It's so far-fetched it's quite funny now.
"'Pebs' (O'Keefe) is a bit aggressive so it was quite funny, but it lasted four seconds. It was all in good fun."
If everything written and said about the Swans over the past week were to be believed, the club would undoubtedly be one in crisis.
The supposed fisticuffs between O'Keefe and Franklin, reportedly a reason behind the former's omission for round one, is just one of the stories doing the rounds.
Franklin has already been declared a destabilising influence, particularly on midfield star Dan Hannebery, who has been reported as needing a strong talking to from the club about his behaviour.
McVeigh was asked if he felt the controversial Franklin deal had led to a campaign being waged against the Swans.
"I’m not too sure. That would be quite funny if there's a campaign against us," he said.
"We knew when we signed ‘Buddy’ that people would be talking about us and not happy and all this type of stuff would come up. It's just what happens.
"We look at teams like Collingwood, St Kilda previously, Hawthorn, those big teams deal with this stuff all the time, but still produce on the footy field.
"That's what we're trying to do. We're not surprised what comes out, but we know within our four walls what we know and what we can control."
Hannebery was involved in a car accident after borrowing Franklin's vehicle, with McVeigh joking that he's "probably a bad driver" before declaring it wasn't a crime to borrow somebody's car.
Hannebery's mentor, McVeigh added he was glad no one was hurt in the incident before declaring nobody had felt the need to have any words with the 23-year-old.
"A lot of it's hearsay," McVeigh said. "Dan is no different to any other player in the group.
"Whether it's ‘Goodesy’ (Adam Goodes) or me or Rhyce Shaw or a young player like George Hewett, we speak to players all the time about knowing how to handle yourself outside of training hours and at the footy club.
"No-one has had sit down talks with anyone. We've had no issues."
Pushed further about concerns regarding Hannebery, McVeigh said: "What I see of Dan Hannebery is when he trains out here, his work rate, he's hard and tough out on the field.
"Look, he hasn't been in great form, but he knows what to do to put things in place.
"If something does happen, we do speak to those players, but we've had no concerns."
McVeigh defended Franklin's on-field efforts, asking for patience and stating "you don't be the player he is and suddenly become a terrible player".
There was one issue McVeigh did agree upon with all the critics, however, and that was the Swans' disappointing performance against the Giants.
He can't wait to face Collingwood on March 29.
"It was probably the most embarrassing loss we've had since I've been here," McVeigh said.
"We were disgusted in our performance. Out on the field we were doing things that Swans players haven't produced before.
"We're all held accountable, myself included. The leaders weren't up to standard and we can't expect the other boys to do it if we're not.
"We'll be a different team next week."
