Franklin tore his hamstring in round 15, and was initially forecast to miss three weeks with the injury.
That extended to five weeks, before the three-time All Australian was picked to play against Gold Coast on Sunday.
But he was a late withdrawal with illness.
Frustrated by the ongoing speculation, Hawks football operations general manager Mark Evans fronted the media on Monday.
"We've heard all of the conspiracy theories and rumours, and I need to tell you they are absolute rubbish," Evans said.
"People need to be very careful about how you report that, and how the commentary goes.
"You shouldn't go there.
"The sorts of things we've heard is that it's an AFL or club suspension, that he's re-done his hamstring, that he took two weeks off to go to the Olympics.
"Just absolute rubbish.
"He was ill, and we're hopeful that he'll play this week."
Evans said Franklin had completed a light aerobic session on Monday, and was planning on participating in full training for the remainder of the week ahead of Saturday's clash with the Sydney Swans.
Speaking before Evans, Hawks skipper Luke Hodge said Franklin was still looking a little off colour on Monday.
"I've seen him look better; he still looks a little bit groggy," Hodge said.
"But he just can't wait for training.
"He can't wait to get back out there.
"If you ask Buddy, he's been ready to go for about four or five weeks, it's just his body hasn't let him go.
"He's trained the house down the last three weeks."
Earlier, Evans went on Melbourne radio to refute claims the Hawks were playing games with Franklin.
Evans told SEN radio on Monday morning that Hawthorn had toyed with playing Franklin for a half or as its substitute against the Suns.
"Clarko (coach Alastair Clarkson) ran the 'Bring a Buddy line' on Thursday on our website, so we certainly wouldn't be playing games with that," Evans said. ?
"I took a call from the [club] 'doc' just after 5 o'clock on Saturday arvo to say that he was around at Buddy's house and he wasn't well. [He] had a blinding headache, was feeling dizzy like he was going to vomit and all those sort of things.
"We were hopeful that might just pass overnight but Pete Baquie, our doctor, said we ran the risk that if he goes out there and it is a virus it wouldn't be good for us.
"Before our game … he was improved [and] wanted to play. We even just tossed around would it be worth trying to play him for a half but the doc said that that wouldn't be the best thing for him."
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