THE WITHDRAWAL of gun forward Lance Franklin from the side to take on West Coast has seen punters desert Hawthorn ahead of Saturday's must-win clash at Subiaco Oval.

Franklin rolled his ankle at training on Wednesday and was ruled out by coach Alastair Clarkson on Friday, causing a big move in the betting markets.

"The biggest mover has definitely been West Coast. Their opening price was $1.80 and they're now into $1.55, so that's been the big move while Hawthorn has gone from $1.95 out to $2.40," TAB Sportsbet's Gary Davies said.

"We've just tried to keep ahead of the punters a bit by turning the price as the information has come through.

"You just try to work out what the change reduces their winning percentage by. If Franklin had not have been playing in the first place what price would the Hawks have been?

"With Franklin out and the other forwards in pretty ordinary form that's a very big difference."

Friday saw five other changes made to round seven's squads with Ben Cousins' departure from the Richmond side with back soreness the other major factor in the markets.

"We turned Adelaide from $1.25 into $1.22 when Cousins came out but the money had already been on for the Crows," Davies said.

"They've just been thumped, no one wants to be on Richmond, but we did turn them a little bit extra once Cousins came out."

Davies said he had never seen a team without a win after six rounds backed so heavily.

"It is an interesting scenario where a team that is 0-6 would open so short and then shorten further from that," he said.

"I think punters are looking at Adelaide and saying that it's at home and they have got a bit of upside in that they've got some injured players who probably should improve a bit with a few games under their belt.

"So they can improve but I don't think anyone can see an upside for Richmond. Then you take Cousins out of a pretty inexperienced side and it looks like they'll make it seven in a row."

Davies added one intrepid punter had parted with $200 at odds of 500-1 on Adelaide to come rattling home for an historic flag win.

North's Levi Greenwood, Port's Hamish Hartlett and the Lions' Mitch Clark have also been withdrawn from their respective squads, but Davies said those changes had not affected the market at all.

In other news, the biggest single bet taken by TAB Sportsbet was a $50,000 wager on Essendon at $1.75 to prevail over Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium.