 Franklin struggled early in the season with inaccurate goalkicking, kicking 21 goals and 36 behinds in his first nine matches.However, he dramatically reversed his fortunes in round 10 when he kicked a career-high thirteen goals in a 115-point drubbing of North Melbourne at Aurora Stadium.Franklin was also among five players that year to reach the milestone of 500 career goals, which occurred in a 162-point demolition of newcomers in round 15, nearly eclipsing the club-record winning margin set the year before.