The last time Lance Franklin played in front of an unrestricted crowd at the SCG, he kicked four goals in his 300th AFL game - and a repeat of that performance next Friday will spark another massive celebration.
Franklin kicked just one goal in Sydney's 20-point opening round derby win over GWS at Accor Stadium on Saturday, lifting his career haul to 996.
Attention will now turn to the clash with Geelong, with Sydney officials saying it will be the first time in 951 days since that milestone game for 'Buddy' in August 2019 that the SCG will have an unrestricted crowd.
Franklin averages a touch under three and a half goals a game at the SCG, but just under two-and-a-half per fixture against the Cats.
The AFL community was abuzz with anticipation heading into round one over whether Franklin would kick the five goals needed to reach four figures.
That will continue, though the always measured Sydney coach John Longmire wasn't getting caught up in the chatter.
"We're not on countdown watch. It will happen when it happens," Longmire said.
He did however express more excitement about the clash with the Cats and the prospect of playing in front of a huge home crowd for the first time in a long time.
"It's great for the footy club and for the players to be able to experience what's going to be a huge crowd against a team that is forever at the top of the ladder," Longmire said.
"We've got great admiration for the Geelong footy club and to be able to play them next week at home on a Friday night is exciting."
Longmire was confident speedy midfielder Chad Warner and backline stalwart Jake Lloyd would return from injury for Friday's game.
GWS coach Leon Cameron hopes to have a couple of quality players back for next Sunday's away game against Richmond, with key forward Jesse Hogan and strong marking back Nick Haynes showing up well in a game earlier on Saturday.
"He (Hogan) is a big chance for next week, we played him for about 60 minutes today, he looked really good," Cameron said.
"He kicked a couple of goals and his second and third efforts were really good.
"We've just got to weigh up whether or not we've got enough load in him.
"Nick Haynes got through and he's had some challenges with his stomach and this has been really frustrating for us and for Nick, because its been there for four or six weeks.
"But he had his best result in terms of his health, playing the game."
Cameron will be looking for more of his senior midfielders to step up against Richmond, after youngster Tom Green excelled against Sydney, adding two goals to match-high tallies of 31 touches and eight clearances.
"He was by far our best mid," Cameron said of Green.
"Some of our other mids probably didn't transfer their pre-season (form) over as much as what Tom has and they need to get to work next week."
