WA champion Lance Franklin set to make football return with junior club in Dowerin

WA champion Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin is set to make his footballing return to where his journey began.

The former Hawthorn and Sydney superstar, who slotted 1066 goals across 19 brilliant seasons at the top level, has confirmed he will return to his home State to pull on the boots for his junior club, the Dowerin Tigers.

The game in WA’s Wheatbelt on April 18 will be Franklin’s first since his AFL retirement in 2023.

“I’m going to be going back to my junior football club back in WA, Dowerin Football Club,” Franklin said on his Buddy & Shane Show podcast.

“I’m going to go back there and play a game.

“I’m really excited about this, I never thought I’d get the opportunity to play for my junior football club.

“But it’s popped up, this opportunity. I’m really excited to get back there and have a game.”

Franklin revealed he would be looking for the comeback to trigger a big fundraiser to help install new lighting at Dowerin’s home ground.

“I think it’s definitely going to bring back a lot of memories,” he said.

“Obviously started there when I was six years of age.

“This is for the town itself, too, giving back — we’re going to raise $300,000.”

Franklin has often spoken about how his love of the game blossomed on his family’s farm just outside of Dowerin, which is 156km northeast of Perth.

“We had a massive big shearing shed and Dad painted these big blue goalposts on it and I used to just run around for hours. Dad and I would kick torps into the big shed and we used to have competitions,” he told The Age in 2009.

“It was hours, like every day. Oh, I loved it. All I ever really wanted to do was . . . be a footballer.”

Franklin left home as a 15-year-old in 2003 after earning a scholarship to board at Wesley College.

From the Tigers, he was zoned to WAFL side Perth and snapped up by the Hawks with the fifth pick of the 2004 national draft, where he won premierships in 2008 and 2013 before making a blockbuster move to the Swans.

Over the course of his brilliant career, he won four Coleman Medals, was named in the All Australian team on eight occasions and claimed three best and fairest awards across his two clubs, leading their goal-kicking in 13 seasons.

Franklin, who now lives in the Gold Coast hinterlands with wife Jesinta and their two children, has resisted the urge to play at any level since calling time on his career at the top level three years ago.

The Tigers play in the Mortlock Football League and missed out on the finals in 2025 with a 6-8 win-loss record.

Dowerin will face Gingin in Franklin’s return clash, with tickets available to be purchased until April 2.