AUSKICK and participation rates are one thing, membership numbers are another. But when it comes to the impact of Lance Franklin on the New South Wales market, Sydney CEO Tom Harley and Swans coach John Longmire don't think you can quantify how influential the superstar has been in growing the game in rugby league heartland. 

When the four-time Coleman medallist chose Sydney over Greater Western Sydney in a bombshell move from Hawthorn at the end of 2013, it sent shockwaves through the sport and resulted in the abolition of the cost of living allowance, yet the Harbour City was the real winner.

Part of the impact can be measured by the numbers. Sydney had 36,358 members the year before Franklin arrived. They have never had less than 40,000 members since, soaring to a club record 61,912 in 2019. 

The 36-year-old will become only the 22nd player in VFL/AFL history to play 350 games when he features in his 168th for Sydney against St Kilda on Thursday night, after also playing his 100th, 200th and 300th against the Saints. 

Before Harley succeeded veteran administrator Andrew Ireland as Swans CEO at the end of 2018, the former Geelong skipper spent four years as Sydney's football operations manager, seeing up close the impact Franklin has had on the football club and the code in a market dominated by the NRL.

"He is one of the few players in my lifetime that genuinely transcend the game. A bit like the rockstar line with Madonna or Prince or Bono, it is Buddy and people know who Buddy is. People in Sydney know who Buddy is and by extension, they know he plays for the Swans and they come and watch the Swans to watch Buddy," Harley told AFL.com.au inside the Swans' new facility this week.

"His record speaks for itself in terms of what he has been able to achieve in the game in terms of the amount of goals he has kicked and the amount of games he has played, but just as important is the way he has gone about playing. He is a magnetic player. You can't not sit and look at him at his best and not be inspired by the game more broadly. 

"The Swans have been here for 41 years now. We are not fully ingrained but the role he has played in bringing people to AFL and attracting them to the game has been really significant. I don't think it can be quantified in attendance numbers, membership numbers, participation; it is the anecdotes, it's the vibe, it's just the fact that he will go down as if not the, certainly one of the players of his generation."

Longmire has coached Franklin for the 10 years he has called the SCG home, reaching three Grand Finals without winning the ultimate prize, during a period where the West Australian has doubled his Coleman Medal tally to four and his All-Australian blazer collection to eight. 

The 2012 premiership coach said the two-time premiership player has played a key role in keeping the Swans and AFL relevant in a fickle Sydney market where NRL attracts the most eyeballs and column inches. 

"For him to come here for nine years – everyone looked at his age at that time, he was 27 – asking if he'd get there. Andrew Ireland and Richard Colless and Andrew Pridham, at the time we all asked, 'OK, what does this mean?' It was a leap," Longmire told AFL.com.au.

"But for him to be able to do what he's done here, which has helped keep us competitive and knocking on the door all of the time in the most competitive sporting market in the world being the Sydney market – there's no question about that, with all of the different sports here and the different professional sporting clubs – to help keep us relevant, it's been important. 

"He's been fantastic to deal with. That's been the great part of the journey. I've been very fortunate to work with one of the all-time greats."

Since South Melbourne relocated north ahead of the 1982 VFL season, the Swans have almost always had a box office, glamour key forward who would put bums on seats. From Warwick Capper (1983-87, '91) to Tony Lockett (1995-99, '02) to Barry Hall (2002-09) to Franklin, Sydney has always had a mega star that has helped appeal to a different audience. 

Franklin penned a one-year extension for 2023 in Grand Final week last September and is expected to call time at season's end, to finish a career that is destined for legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame. 

But despite the impact that will have on drawing fans, Harley believes the arrival of academy products Callum Mills, Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell and Sam Wicks across the past decade means they no longer need a superstar from elsewhere to be relevant in the Sydney market. 

"I challenge the thinking around the comments that the Swans need a marquee forward. We are now north of 40 years in Sydney. An alternative to the one marquee is homegrown talent, which is why we so fiercely defend the academy and the importance of the academy for the growth of the game in New South Wales," Harley said. 

"I look at the team that played in the Grand Final last year and hopefully we get towards the pointy end in the future years with Callum Mills as one of the club captains and Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey has just signed a long-term deal and then there is Braeden and there is Errol, so there is five. It's a fifth of your team straight away that are Sydneysiders. 

"A key tenet when the academy was set up and it's a classic line – you can't be what you can't see – now young boys and girls who are picking up an Auskick ball for the first time can see a definitive pathway to play for the Swans or the Giants or the Suns or the Lions. I think growing the local talent pool will be more impactful than jettisoning in a high-profile player."

Harley said Franklin has been a key driver in participation at grassroots level and has always given his time to kids, including the Geelong great's own who spent months in 2020 living inside the hub, during a period they will never forget. 

"What you don't see is what he does with the kids. He gives them so much time. I've got three young kids and my two boys will look back and realise how lucky they were to live in a hub with Lance Franklin," he said.

"He is 6 foot 6, a striking imposing figure and by the strict definition of a role model – a role model is someone people look up to – and kids young and old look up to Lance. We were all kids once in the backyard with a footy kicking it around. It was James Hird for me, but up here it is Lance Franklin. They would all be commentating about Buddy in the backyard. That is how you start the generational growth."

Franklin has produced plenty of iconic moments at the SCG, none bigger than when he became just the sixth player to kick 1000 goals in a moment made extra special by its location and its connection to Lockett's record-breaking moment in 1999. 

"The pinnacle of Bud was when he kicked his 1000th goal," Longmire said.

"The impact that it had, not just in Australia but worldwide, was massive. I got a feeling after that of just, 'woo'. It was big, it was pretty big."