Buddy Franklin's $10 million pay cheque is a sign of reconciliation Buddy Franklin had the shoulders of a rich heritage of Indigenous AFL stars to stand on ... AMID the rancour over Buddy Franklin's extraordinary $10m deal with the Swans, there's something here that has the good feel of overdue justice: an indigenous man has won the highest contract ever paid to an Australian team sportsman. Franklin is the marque player of the comp, the masthead, the face of the game. Given it was only 20 years ago when Nicky Winmar raised his St Kilda colours to show the colour of his skin, it says something about how far we've come. The strange thing is, we were already there, long before Franklin, Winmar, Michael Long and so many others. It is not widely acknowledged that indigenous man Graham "Polly" Farmer went from East Perth to captain Geelong from 1965 to 1967, an extraordinary achievement given that it was not until the final year of his captaincy that Australia finally held a referendum to recognise Aborigines. It seemed, back then, there were forces at work that downplayed Polly Farmer's Aboriginality. The most powerful among them was that Farmer was simply a great footballer, the best Geelong had. The lack of fascination with Franklin's Aboriginality puts him in the Polly Farmer category. People are watching the game, not the skin. The same goes for the seven other indigenous players who competed in the AFL Grand Final last Saturday, being Franklin's Hawthorn teammates Shaun Burgoyne, Cyril Rioli and Bradley Hill, and the Dockers' Stephen Hill, Danyle Pearce, Michael Johnson and Michael Walters. It is possible we are reaching a point where we identify these players as footballers and as indigenous. This is quite different to identifying them as indigenous footballers, which would place them their own unwanted special-treatment subgrouping. Taking such a view not only frees the thinking in all of us, it allows these players to be whomever they want. When, in 2008, Franklin became the first indigenous player to kick 100 goals in a season, the thousands of Hawks fans who rushed onto the field and surrounded him were not thinking about Franklin's race. And nor was Franklin. But when asked about how it felt to be the first indigenous man to make 100 goals, he reportedly said: "I'm a very proud Aboriginal man." Franklin grew up in wheatbelt country east of Perth, in the same general farming lands that have produced so many great indigenous names, including the Krakouer brothers, Winmar, the Kicketts (who are part of Franklin's family) and the Matera brothers. In the five main AFL states, Victoria, WA, SA the NT and Tasmania, people already know Buddy Franklin. Now he is leaving the AFL heartlands for Sydney (presuming the deal isn't shut down), where Franklin can become an even bigger star, with a level of national recognition that could transcend football in the manner of David Beckham. He looked a bit shabby in the Grand Final, moving like a 40-year-old, but he's only 26 and there's more to come (though maybe not $10m more). When people look at Buddy Franklin, the first thing see is Buddy Franklin. All other considerations, including his heritage, are optional. That's a great place for a proud young indigenous man to be.