HAWTHORN superstar Lance Franklin has told the club he will not discuss a new contract until the end of the season, sparking fears he may leave.
Franklin is a restricted free agent at the end of the year, meaning he can entertain offers from rival clubs.
The Hawks said yesterday they made a "very good offer" to Franklin -- understood to have been between $900,000 and $1 million a season for up to four years -- and were stunned when told this week all negotiations were off until the end of September.
The offer also included a healthy slice of the club's marketing allowance.
"Buddy has made it pretty clear he'd prefer to leave the discussions to the end of the 2013 season," Hawthorn's head of football Mark Evans said.
Franklin's manager Liam Pickering said last night: "Buddy has 12 months to go on his contract and he wants to concentrate on playing.
"He said he didn't want the distraction of a contract and he has advised me talks are off until the end of the season.
"He doesn't want to entertain discussions and, whilst Hawthorn aren't happy, that's how it is, unfortunately."
Hawthorn is unable to pay Franklin market value as skipper Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell are on massive contracts, and Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead, Grant Birchall, Brian Lake, Jordan Lewis and Brad Sewell are on sizeable deals.
Fremantle has been linked to Franklin, though the Dockers have not spoken to Pickering. Last year the Dockers offered Collingwood's Travis Cloke about $1.1 million for five years, but failed to land him.
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The expectation is Franklin, who is from Western Australia, would be offered more than Cloke.
The Hawks yesterday confirmed six months of discussions had hit a brick wall this week.
Evans admitted Franklin's decision had rocked the club and already there were fears the constant talk about Franklin's future would become a major distraction, as it did at Collingwood with Cloke.
"It is not an ideal situation because we'd prefer to close off the distraction for Buddy, for the club, for supporters, for Pickers, and have a free run at our 2013 campaign," Evans said.
"We've been having a number of discussions over the past 5 1/2 months, and we've put together what we think is a very good offer, and Pickers is on record as saying it is respectable.
"Obviously, we had a few things to sort out.
"We know our offer is a strong offer, but at the moment it's not that the offer hasn't been accepted or rejected, it's only the discussions have been put off until the end of the season."
The Hawks accept Franklin can explore free agency.
"He's a free agent at the end of 2013 and he's got every right to proceed with contract discussions as he wants to," Evans said.
Despite Franklin's decision to cease discussions, the Hawks said they would endeavour to keep contact.
"We need to make sure we have regular contact with Pickers and Buddy and, should the situation change, our door is open," Evans said.
Pickering also manages Gary Ablett, who left Geelong for Gold Coast after announcing at the start of 2010 that contract talks were on hold until the end of the year.
Greater Western Sydney's Tom Scully said the same, then left Melbourne.
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