Sydney football manager Tom Harley has denied the club purposely avoided using the season-opening clash against Collingwood at ANZ Stadium for Adam Goodes' farewell lap of honour to avoid any chance of more booing from opposition fans.
Goodes' illustrious AFL career ended on a sour note last season as the dual Brownlow medallist and former Australian of the Year found himself the subject of persistent booing at venues around the country.
The Swans and Goodes said the booing was racially motivated and it took such a toll on him that he had to sit out the round 18 clash against Adelaide.
Sydney and Collingwood have endured a particularly strained relationship in the past few years with Goodes being called an ape by a young Magpies fan in 2013 and, a few days later, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire suggesting Goodes should be used to promote a stage production of King Kong in an embarrassing on-air gaffe.
But Harley said that couldn't be further from the truth and described the story as a "beat-up".
"The fact of the matter is that the SCG is the spiritual home of the club, we're playing all of our home games there from 2017," Harley told SEN on Tuesday.
"He's played more sport on the SCG than any other sportsman, all codes included, and he's an ambassador for the SCG so it was a natural fit.
"I know there's probably a bit of a beat-up that it's to avoid the Collingwood game, I can categorically deny that. It's the preference of the club to have that and have Adam at the SCG."
Goodes is probably Sydney/South Melbourne's greatest-ever player with two Brownlow Medals, two premierships, three best-and-fairests, four All-Australians and the 1999 Rising Star award to his credit in a career spanning 17 seasons and a club record 372 games.
Harley also confirmed that star forward Lance Franklin will have his first competitive hit-out this week since withdrawing from the 2015 finals series due to mental health issues.
The former Hawk will take part in the Swans' intra-club match on Friday.
