Originally Posted by
westdog54
Looking forward to some fascinating discussion.
I'll say that Franklin is probably the better player, with the irony being that what is probably his greatest weakness (Marking) was Carey's greatest strength.
Beyond that, Lance Franklin is, physically, the prototype for the perfect footballer.
He has a combination of height, strength, skill, speed, agility and smarts that is unmatched among his peers and unlikely to be replicated in years to come.
Bit of sliding doors stuff here, imagine for a moment Carey and Longmire hadn't been sold by the Swans to North for the princely sum of $10,000. Sydney would have been a powerhouse through the 90s, probably don't recruit Tony Lockett (He probably would have ended up at Collingwood), and North may well have been in the wilderness and not won the 92 and 94 premierships. They would have been even worse financial trouble, probably merge with Fitzroy instead of Brisbane (That may have even happened earleir, also).