AFL star's kind act after fan 'poleaxed' amid Buddy Franklin chaos

When eagle-eyed AFL fans spotted one man getting absolutely flattened by Geelong's Zach Tuohy during the frenzy that followed Lance Franklin's 1000th goal, some were worried both might have been left worse for wear.

Instead, the fan's brush with Tuohy seems to have carried a bit of the luck of the Irish, with the Cats defender saving the fan from what could have been a nasty surprise when they went home afterwards.

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Thousands of fans spilled onto the SCG turf after Franklin became just the sixth player in AFL/VFL history to surpass the 1000 goal benchmark.

Players from both teams were caught up in the chaos, eventually able to make their way down to the club rooms before the final minutes of the fourth quarter could be played.

As fans streamed towards Franklin, one evidently too caught in the moment to look where he was going, clattered straight into Tuohy and fell to the ground.

Undeterred, the fan continued their sprint towards Franklin, only to have Tuohy come up from behind.

Some would have feared the worst, but Tuohy had actually saved the fan a world of hassle later in the evening by returning their keys and phone to them, which had been dropped in the collision.

Tuohy, speaking to club media, said the fan had apologised for running into him and had already taken off again by the time he noticed their belongings on the ground.

"I was trudging off and some bloke ran straight into me, and he apologised straight away, he didn't mean it or anything," he said.

"As he stood up and ran off I saw his keys and phone on the ground, and I thought it's about as bad as it gets losing your phone and your keys.

"So I picked it up, chased after him and grabbed him by the collar to give him back his keys.

"He kind of looked at my like I was going after him (laughs) but like I said, he didn't mean to, and I figured you'd hate to lose your keys so gave them back to him."

Fans were loving the story on social media, with Tuohy earning plenty of praise for going out of his way to help the man out.

Buddy Franklin boots 1000th career goal in crazy AFL scenes

The match was stopped with Sydney leading by 38 points and just six minutes remaining as thousands of supporters stormed onto the ground.

Franklin took more than 10 minutes to leave the field as delirious fans mobbed him amid extraordinary scenes that may never happen again in the AFL.

The game restarted after a 33-minute break as the Swans went to a 2-0 record, running out winners 17.5 (107) to 10.17 (77) in front of 36,578 fans.

"That was one of the most special moments you'd probably get, certainly I can look back on," Swans coach John Longmire said.

"I just said to the players after the game we were all privileged to (play alongside) and, in my instance, coach Lance.

"Also the players he has played with over the years, both at Sydney and Hawthorn."

Sydney powered away with a seven-goal second quarter and the Cats could never get close enough to mount a serious challenge.

Franklin started the match with 996 goals to his name, but he edged closer to the mark by nailing a set-shot from the pocket just before quarter-time.

He had a quiet second term before being handed a soft free-kick midway through the third quarter that he converted from about 20m out.

Franklin's third was a powerful kick from 50m directly in front, raising his hands in delight to the roaring crowd.

The historic 1000th came late in the last quarter as he put through a set shot after being set-up by young gun Chad Warner.

With AAP

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