AFL Side Sydney Swans Player Lance Franklin Splits With Manager Liam Pickering

Australian Football League side Sydney Swans player Lance "Buddy" Franklin "has taken on a new celebrity agent and is believed to have split with his high-profile manager Liam Pickering on the eve of his first game against Hawthorn," according to Peter Lalor of NEWS LIMITED. The former Hawk came to Sydney on a nine-year, A$10M ($9.4M) deal that "was negotiated by Pickering." The richest deal ever inked in the AFL "was a windfall for both the player and manager." Despite the split, Pickering "will continue to get his cut of the contract for the next nine years." Franklin "has signed with SF Celebrity Management," which represents people such as Australian cricketer Shane Watson and Franklin’s model girlfriend Jesinta Campbell. Franklin's new agent Sharon Finnigan said that "the break-up with Pickering was not acrimonious." Finnigan said, "Buddy lives in Sydney and wants to have his affairs run out of Sydney. He has settled in Sydney and is devoted to the Sydney Swans" (NEWS LIMITED, 7/25).