Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Tuesday, Thompson said it will be up to every member of North’s back six to be aware of his presence.
“Everyone has to look out for him. He’s a key-forward that brings them (the Hawks) together,” Thompson told Mark Robinson and Gerard Whateley.
“If he’s kicking goals they are probably going to be winning, so everyone will be looking out for him and wanting to stop him.”
The North Melbourne defender has been in arguably the best form of his career so far this year, but admits even in his fifth season the prospect of playing on Franklin is daunting.
“He’s probably the best player in the AFL so you always get nervous when you play on someone like him,” Thompson added.
“It is a relief when he goes up the ground, but it can be pretty damaging having Buddy up on the wing. He’s pretty quick and if he gets goal-side he’s going to be running at the goals pretty quickly.”
With the Kangaroos sitting at four wins and five losses, this week’s match looms as a season-defining battle against one of the premiership favourites.
“It’s a huge game for us, obviously we’ve got our bye next week so we’re not going to hold back and we’re going to go with everything. We’ve had some close games in Tassie the last few times we’ve played (against Hawthorn), so it’s going to be exciting footy I reckon.”
In successive weeks, North has allowed its opponent to dictate terms in vital periods of the game. Brisbane kicked five unanswered goals in the third term on the weekend, but Thompson says it was important his team was able to leave with the four points.
“We held on for the last quarter which was really good for us after the Port game. It gave us good confidence that if something happens like that again we can hold on,” he added.
“After the Port game we had a review of that last 15 minutes. We just looked at our structures and looked at what fell down. Obviously the weekend with that 15 minute lapse, we then worked back into the game and fixed those things up.”
