NO AMOUNT of attention is going to affect red-hot forward Lance Franklin’s form, says Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell.
Mitchell says Franklin is loving football and likely to thrive under the sort of scrutiny he’s currently receiving from both opponents and football analysts.
“Last year, players were trying to get into him before the bounce and trying to rough him up, and it only helped him to play a bit better,” Mitchell said.
“He’s pretty well grounded and all the boys make sure of that. Out there you may think he’s some star, but within the confine of the footy club everyone just hangs it on him as much as anyone else, including the coaching group.”
"Usually they have a summing up during the week and hang it on him a bit to make sure he keeps his feet on the ground.
"He's going really well and we're really happy with his progress, and he's working very hard on some other parts of his game, his chasing and tackling, that are going to make him a good player even when he hasn't got the footy."
Mitchell said he considers Franklin to be among the top three naturally blessed footballers he's played with, alongside Luke Hodge and Shane Crawford.
He also said the lure of becoming the first player since Fraser Gehrig in 2004 to boot 100 goals in a season isn't likely to distract Franklin from maintaining his consistency.
"It hasn't been brought up," Mitchell said.
"He's playing a very good role for us down there in the forward line, and he might be the one finishing off a few goals on the weekend.
"But you've got other guys too. Mark Williams has come back into the side for a couple of weeks and kicked a couple of goals and contributed, and I think Jarryd Roughead was very important as well on the weekend.
"Although Buddy is a key player for us, I think we've got a pretty good balance in the forward line."
The Hawks' skipper took time to send an ominous warning to the rest of the competition by stating the unbeaten club – that has won three times on the road so far this season – is still not playing at its peak.
"It's a good way to start the season. It's the best start we've had since I've been at the footy club," he said.
"But, it's only early and five wins are not going to get you into a finals series.
"We're playing reasonable footy. I think we've still got a little bit of improvement left. We've just had a look at some of the tape and we probably didn't stick exactly to what we were trying to do throughout parts of the game on the weekend
"While we we've been able to win, I think our best footy is still going to be a little bit ahead of us, once we get our best group together for a little bit longer.
"We've still got some boys like Benny McGlynn who's just come back into some really good form playing at Box Hill.
"When we get guys like that together and we've played together for a bit longer, I think our side will be a bit more settled and we'll hopefully get some more improvement out of us."
