Former AFL star Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin and his wife, Jesinta, have stepped further away from public life after moving their family to a farm on the banks of the Coomera River in Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland.
The couple left Sydney several years ago for Queensland before relocating in 2025 to the rural property, where they are raising their three children away from the attention that followed Franklin throughout his football career.
The Guanaba estate, known as Avonleigh Park, covers about 3.2 hectares and was purchased for a reported $4.6 million. It includes a modern farmhouse, stables, a barn, chicken coop, vegetable beds, dams and a riverside gazebo.
The move followed the sale of the couple’s high-end Gold Coast residence, Villa Casa, and reflects their long-stated ambition to give their children a more rural upbringing.
Jesinta has previously spoken of wanting the family to live on acreage, grow their own food and keep animals including horses and chickens. The property also gives the family greater privacy after years spent in Sydney and on the Gold Coast.
Franklin, who retired from the Sydney Swans in 2023, has described his post-football life as a chance to spend more time with his children. The former forward played for Hawthorn and Sydney during a 20-year AFL career and kicked 1,066 goals.
The couple’s new life on the farm comes after the birth of their third child, with the family now settling into the quieter surroundings of the Coomera River property.
