Buddy’s groin under the knife

STAR Sydney forward Lance Franklin won’t return to preseason training until January after being forced to undergo surgery on a lingering groin injury.

Franklin injured his groin in the dying minutes of Sydney’s round 22 win over GWS. He returned to play in the club’s elimination final loss to the Giants, but didn’t look at full strength as he tallied just eight disposals to go with his 0.1.

The Swans initially hoped an extended period of rest would help the injury heal fully.

But Franklin underwent surgery yesterday after it was decided the injury wasn’t healing fast enough.

Sydney expect Franklin to return to skills training in January.

“It was planned that rest would be the optimal form of recovery post-season for Lance,” new Swans head of football Charlie Gardiner said.

“However, it hasn’t healed at the rate we would have liked and surgery was determined as the best course of action.

“We are confident Lance will make a full recovery and he’ll do everything possible to bounce back and play a big part in 2019.”

Franklin booted 57 goals from 19 games last season, and again looms as a key to Sydney’s hopes of challenging for the flag.

Meanwhile, Marcus Bontempelli has signed a new deal with the Western Bulldogs until the end of the 2021 season.

The length of tenure makes the premiership star eligible for free agency at the end of his contract but Bontempelli said there were other factors at play in determining his new deal.

“You’ve got to consider those things with football now (but) it wasn’t a huge part of it,” he said.

“I can understand the speculation around a long term deal … it suits particular players and particular clubs.

“We were happy to extend for two. Most of all it keeps me accountable to want to grow more and be the best player I can be.”

The 22-year-old star declined to confirm reports his new deal pushed him into an elite bracket of AFL players earning a seven-figure wage.

Bontempelli is back in preseason training after spending a fortnight on the US west coast, training at the Nike headquarters in Portland and UCSD in southern California.

He said that was part of “freshening up” his training regimen in search of improvement.