Hawthorn star Buddy Franklin says the lewd photo scandal at St Kilda highlights the need for AFL players to understand they can easily become targets.

As explicit photos of Saints captain Nick Riewoldt and two teammates surfaced on the internet, Franklin warned that players needed to heed their off-field training and said he felt for the Saints.

"Definitely," Franklin said. "Obviously it's an invasion of privacy, it's a tough time for St Kilda Football Club and the boys involved.

"I think any high-profile footballer or any guy on our list has to be careful because there are people out there who are going to do stuff like that.

"You've just got to be very careful and be smart about it.

"I know the AFL puts in place things at a young age, as soon as you get drafted, where you've got to be smart enough to know what's going on in your private life and not to do things that are going to get out in public."

Meanwhile, Franklin said Hawthorn was midway through completing one of its best pre-season preparations in recent years.

"We started our pre-season off pretty good, we all reached our limits with our time trials and the last month of training has been exceptional leading into Christmas," he said.

"We've just got to maintain our fitness over the break and then come back ready to go."

Franklin said he has recovered from surgery on an injured thumb and would be fitter than in the past ahead of the 2011 season.

"I've been fortunate this year. I just had my thumb done after the season and I've been able to do everything so far which has been a little bit different to the last couple of years," he said.

"I've had either a sore foot or not been able to do a full pre-season but this year I've been actually going okay."

Franklin said each year all teams seem to be stepping up their pre-season programs.

"I think the intensity of the training has definitely lifted from when I was first drafted to now," he said.

"There are longer days, more put in the program and it is definitely harder by a fair margin."

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