RICHMOND’S Kelvin Moore knows better than most that the lot of a backman is not an easy one.

When he perfectly timed a lunge to spoil Lance Franklin, Moore had to watch on helplessly as the ball spilled free for Cyril Rioli to swoop on it and kick a goal.

Moore tackled football’s biggest job, minding Lance Franklin, despite having painful memories of a previous encounter.

“I played on him a couple of years ago and I think he nearly kicked the goal of the year on me,” said Moore after Sunday’s game.

“I was keen for that not to happen again. He’s very hard to play on, he’s so quick and they go to him all the time. He’s so tall and he has all the attributes that make up a good footballer.”

Moore was happy that he was able to stick to his guns against the competition’s emerging superstar, but was realistic enough to acknowledge that his day could have been made much worse if Franklin had kicked straight and had a better return than 1.7.

“I was lucky he didn’t kick straight, and we tried to force him wide. You can’t kick goal of the week from the boundary. For him to come out with one goal which he got over the back in the goal square was a good result for us.”

Moore says that Franklin’s recovery was excellent.

“A few times he dashed through the middle and I didn’t have much hope of catching him.”

At one stage Franklin bolted through the centre.

“I had a go at grabbing him, but he just went straight past me. The umpire said he ran too far so I think I owe the umpire a box of chocolates for that.”

Moore said that his own performance was good for his self belief.

“We’ll go through my game on the tape during the week and see where he got me and where I got him. I’m sure I’ll get a lot out of playing on the best forward in the competition. You learn from what works and what doesn’t.”

Moore says that he benefited from the assistance given by Matthew Richardson who operated off a wing and dropped back in front of Franklin. In the second half Graham Polak took over the role.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.