IT WAS hard to escape the feeling during the Grand Final that Hawthorn was consciously trialling its post-Buddy forward set up.

Lance Franklin, source of 113 goals in the Hawks' last premiership season and fourth in the Coleman Medal this year behind his teammate Jarryd Roughead, was rarely within spitting distance of the goals.

The closest he got was when a 50m penalty in the first quarter saw him shoot from point blank, but for much of the day he was roaming the wings and even the half-back line, chasing and fending-off and tackling. At different times he was matched up by Luke McPharlin, Zac Dawson and Michael Johnson.

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It's true that he hasn't been a stay-at-home full-forward this season especially, but on Grand Final day he was almost entirely the set-up man, flicking little handballs to the team's runners and occasionally thumping it deep inside the forward 50 for Jack Gunston, David Hale and Roughead to contest.

He ended the day with five inside-50s - the most for his team - and 18 disposals, just nine of them kicks, for 1.1. His six marks were all uncontested.

Franklin is set to announce this week whether he will stay a Hawk or accept a massive free agency offer from Greater Western Sydney, and there was nothing in his demeanour or body language on the field to suggest he was about to say his last goodbyes.

Franklin had embraced and been embraced after the siren, and he spent a lot of the lap of honour on the fence line giving high fives to the fans. He wasn't the only one, with Brad Sewell being politely moved along by police as he dawdled on the boundary line as the time for the on-field premiership party approached.

But in the rooms?

Audio problems aborted a Channel Seven interview on the field, and the second effort saw the interviewers avoid the question altogether, asking instead about Buddy's elbow.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson also shouldered arms when asked a question about Buddy in his post-match press conference.

"We'll work that out over the next few days," Clarkson said. "Tonight's not a time to be considering that. It's a time to be celebrating a wonderful year by our footy club, and we'll get to that
 
"I mean that's really Foxy (chief executive Stuart Fox) and (list manager) Graham Wright's and (football manager) Chris Fagan's role in terms of working out our contracts and that sort of stuff.

"We'll worry about it in the next few days rather than worrying about it tonight."

You can read too much into these things, but Franklin was in tears when interviewed by Fox Footy in the dressing rooms. And the Fox Footy team read into it that Buddy was leaving.

Interviewed by Dermott Brereton, Franklin said, "I can't explain it, mate."

"My parents mean the world to me, my mum, my sisters … everyone here today to support me. The fans, all the boys, it's unbelievable.

"All the football club has been a massive part of me, and I love them."

Excuse the mixing of sporting metaphors, but if this was Franklin's finale for Hawthorn, it fell somewhere between a Don Bradman and a Steve Waugh.

Waugh, who only cried when he heard a John Williamson song, made a typically gritty 80 in his last Test innings, while the incomparable Don poked about in an unseemly manner before being bowled for a duck by a Pommy journeyman spinner.

Some believe that Bradman, moved by the reception of the crowd and the opposition, had tears in his eyes, too.

- with Adam McNicol