Alastair Clarkson walked away from Hawthorn's shock 2012 grand final loss to Sydney and said to himself, we can never again be so Buddy Franklin-centric when moving the ball inside 50 if we are to go forward as a club and win the 2013 premiership.

Clarkson executed his game plan to perfection 12 months later when Jack Gunston kicked four goals, Jarryd Roughead two and Franklin one, along with four of his teammates on their way to a 15-point victory over Fremantle.

A fortnight ago, I walked away from the SCG after Sydney's loss to Richmond and thought to myself, John Longmire has exactly the same problem on his hands now.

The problem isn't havingFranklin on your team, as every side in the AFL would love to have him, but it's the tendency of teammates to continually funnel through him when it's not in their best interests.

Richmond were magnificent in the second half against Sydney two weeks ago, coming from 34 points down to win the match. The Swans were coming hard late in the fourth quarter at Richmond but it was Buddy or bust, with no other Sydney player looking like kicking a goal because the midfielders did not want to kick to anybody else.

The inside forward 50 targets for that match read very unhealthily for Longmire, as Franklin was the target 16 times for the night, the next best Kurt Tippett and Adam Goodes at four apiece.

When the ball is kicked to you 16 times, the minimal return for a key forward should be five goals yet Franklin had just one handball for the whole second half of the match.

More often than not, the Swans would have won and nobody would have made too much of it but Franklin's opponent was Alex Rance, who matched him for athleticism, size, strength, pace and aerial ability and he was in the best two players on the night.

Defenders such as Rance, Luke McPharlin and Brian Lake are good enough to go toe to toe with Franklin in finals.

I'll be fascinated to see how Longmire structures his forward line against Brisbane at the Gabba and whether the Swans midfielders lower their eyes more and kick to other players as that is what they need to do if they have learnt anything from the Tigers loss.

The Swans beat Port Adelaide by 10 points in a tight tussle in round 14 and they had nine individual goal kickers, their equal best return in any game this season. Goodes and Luke Parker had the ball directed to them five times each and Sam Reid three times on their way to a tight victory without Franklin and Tippett.

Sam Reid kicked three goals in the first half in the match and he looked like he was thriving with the responsibility of being required to stand up and contribute if the Swans were to win without their two marquee forwards.

I watched Reid play forward earlier in his career with a fair bit of success before Franklin arrived but since then I've watched him float from the forward line to the wing and then to the back line without ever owning a position. Reid has too much ability and too many games under his belt not to be contributing more regularly to Swans wins but he does not have continuity in a role to build his confidence and belief that he is a valued contributor in this Swans outfit.

Tippett has become one of the most maligned players in the competition. Tippett kicks just over one goal a game and floats into the ruck occasionally, but he is another player who needs to be given a more defined role and his fair share of time as the main focus in the Swans forward line to show his true worth and ability.

Tippett is a much better player than he is currently showing but when you are playing alongside one of the great forwards of the modern era, your psyche can be one of conservatism as he doesn't demand the ball with the authority that he should with his size and strength unless Franklin has pushed up to a wing.

The Swans are good enough to win this year's premiership but Longmire has to recognise at this point of the season that he has a forward line that has the ability to function much better with the personnel that he has at his disposal. Franklin, Tippett, Reid, Goodes and Parker are a powerful forward line if used smartly. With the two big boys out suspended last week, I loved seeing Josh Kennedy out of the goal square for periods of the match. Gary Rohan now believes that he belongs at AFL level and when he returns from injury, his pace and marking ability also adds potency and he could also be used out of the goal square to mix things up a bit.

The Swans are currently ranked fifth in the competition for total points kicked, behind Hawthorn, West Coast, Collingwood and the Adelaide Crows. Hawthorn and West Coast have the best spread of talent across their forward lines and they average 109 and 105 points per game respectively compared to the Swans 89 points a game.

The Swans will be there come on preliminary finals weekend; I have no doubt about that. Winning the grand final, however, requires an even contribution from 22 players.

Franklin is a team player but no one player can win a flag off their own boot as we have seen previously with Garry Ablett Snr and Tony Lockett, two of the greatest forwards of all time.

Sydney remain a real threat but only if they can find the formula that makes Franklin part of the plan, not the whole plan.