The Sydney Swans have responded to claims that stars Lance Franklin and Dan Hannebery were sidelined due to off-field disciplinary issues, not injury.
Franklin (bruised heel) missed games against Geelong, North Melbourne and Hawthorn between rounds six and eight, while Hannebery (groin) was also ruled out for the same fixtures.
On Saturday afternoon, the day after Sydney's 30-point win over Carlton at the SCG, former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas launched an attack on the club, saying the players had not missed the games through injury, but through internal punishment.
Was Franklin & Hannebery injuries coincidentally the same time frame?🤔 Hearing perhaps internal punishment for off field indiscretions? I’m sure it’s just gossip - there’d be no way Bud would do anything wrong off field. 😳
— Grant Thomas (@Thomo_Grant) June 2, 2018
"(Were) Franklin and Hannebery injuries coincidentally the same time frame? Hearing perhaps internal punishment for off field indiscretions? I’m sure it’s just gossip - there’d be no way Bud would do anything wrong off field," Thomas wrote.
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While the Swans were reportedly initially angered by the tweet, they appeared to let it slide.
However, on Tuesday, Thomas posted another inflammatory tweet, suggesting the Swans were stitching together a cover-up, and that Sydney football operations boss Tom Harley was in the thick of it.
I hear Tim Watson’s Channel 7 buddy Tom Harley said its rubbish so it must be😏. Therefore all test result stuff doing the rounds must be rubbish too. Even missing the finals is probably rot also? In fact he has never missed a game for anything other than legitimate injury https://t.co/AcJvSnsebh
— Grant Thomas (@Thomo_Grant) June 4, 2018
"I hear Tim Watson’s Channel 7 buddy Tom Harley said it's rubbish so it must be," Thomas wrote.
"Therefore all test result stuff doing the rounds must be rubbish too. Even missing the finals is probably rot also? In fact he has never missed a game for anything other than legitimate injury."
The latest tweet prompted Swans chief executive Andrew Ireland to deny Thomas' claims, with a statement published to Channel 9's Footy Classified declaring Thomas was "clearly wrong".
"The players are injured, and he’s saying we’re lying about it," Ireland said.
"It’s simply nonsense and people shouldn’t take notice of anything he says, because he is so wrong about this, he clearly has no credibility in anything else he says."
Swans anger towards Grant Thomas' twitter comments. The Swans aren't ruling action against these tweets. #9FootyClassified pic.twitter.com/jC2sVgAEhO
— Footy Classified (@FootyClassified) June 4, 2018
Should the Swans elect not to take action against Thomas' tweet, then speculation about Franklin and Hannebery will only snowball.
However, Ireland has reportedly not ruled out taking legal recourse against Thomas, who also retweeted replies - centred on Franklin - to his initial tweet.
An old Hawks players Dad (now at Melbourne) once told me he’d been “caught” about a dozen times. That was about 6 years ago. Bad look for the game if a superstar was found with a problem.
— DJ ☘️ (@damojonesz) June 4, 2018
Especially not that "6 week injury" at Hawthorn in 2012 that just happened to coincidence to the absolute day that a 6 week suspension would have ended if he was caught for 2 strikes under the drug code. Nicely swept under the carpet. Worst secret in footy.
— Frank (@FrankWCE1992) June 4, 2018
Via legal recourse, Sydney could file a defamation lawsuit against Thomas if they believe the 60-year-old intended to harm the reputations of Franklin and Hannebery based on a lie.
