Father-Son Rule

The father-son rule is a rule that allows clubs to select the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the team in Australian rules football, most notably the Australian Football League. The rule was first established in 1952 and has since endured, albeit with over 10 amendments, most recently tightening of eligibility criteria in 2003 and refining of the draft selection process in 2007.

History

The father-son rule was established during the 1949 season. The first player officially cleared under the father-son rule was Harvey Dunn Jr, who was recruited to his father's old club, Carlton, in 1951, instead of being recruited to North Melbourne under zoning rules.

The original rule is thought to have originally come into place as a result of successful lobbying by the Melbourne Football Club,^{[citation needed]} which had wanted the young Ron Barassi to follow in the footsteps of his father, Ron Barassi, Sr. who had been killed during World War II. Barassi was officially cleared to Melbourne under the rule in 1953.

Current Rule

In 2007 the AFL made an important amendment for the father-son rule, establishing a bidding system to determine which draft pick a club must give up to secure the potential recruit. The current system works as follows:

• 1. Individual clubs are free to nominate potential father-son recruits within the above eligibility guidelines.
• 2. A meeting is held on the Monday before the start of trade week where clubs can bid for the nominated players. Each club has the option to bid, in reverse ladder order, for the nominated players.
• 3. If a bid is made, the club that nominated the father-son player must use its next available selection if it wishes to retain its hold on that player. If a club nominating the father-son player declines to match the selection nominated, the club with the successful bid must use that selection at the Draft to select the player.
• 4. Any club that makes a successful bid on a father-son selection must to the pick the player they nominate.
• 5. If no bid is made by another club, the club that nominated the father-son eligible player will forfeit its last selection in the draft to select the player.

For example in 2008 the Western Bulldogs had to use their 1st round selection, #14, to secure Ayce Cordy after St Kilda bid their 1st round selection for him. Ayce's father, Brian, played 124 games for the Bulldogs in the 1980s.

Old rules

Immediately prior to 2007, the father-son rule allowed clubs to select an eligible player in return for giving up their allocated third round pick in the National Draft. If more than one player was eligible for father-son selection for the same club in the same draft then any subsequent father-son selections required forfeit of the second, first and fourth round draft picks respectively. Notably, this rule allowed Geelong to draft All Australian and Brownlow Medalist Gary Ablett Jr. to the club in 2001 using only their 3rd round (40th overall) draft pick, although Ablett was not considered a superstar at the time. Other notable players taken well below what they may be worth include Brisbane's Jonathan Brown and Collingwood's Travis Cloke. Earlier variations of the rule allowed the son to be recruited by his father's club, bypassing the draft entirely. West Coast's Ben Cousins, for example, was recruited in this manner, without the Eagles parting with any draft picks.

Player eligibility

The current eligibility of players differs depending upon the home-state of the team making the selection.

Victorian clubs

Each club can select any player whose father played a minimum of 100 senior games for the side. The two interstate clubs with historic links to Victorian Football League teams, namely the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans, can choose the sons of players who have appeared 100 times for either themselves or their predecessors, the Fitzroy Lions and Brisbane Bears or the South Melbourne Football Club respectively.

West Australian and South Australian teams

These four clubs have a modified rule in place, valid until the club has been in the AFL for 20 years, with eligibility to be determined by a certain number of games played for specific sides in state league. Specifically:

• Until 31 October 2007, the West Coast Eagles could select any player whose father had made 150 WAFL appearances for Claremont, East Perth, West Perth or Subiaco.
• Until 31 October 2010, Adelaide could select any player whose father made 200 SANFL appearances prior to 1990 for South Adelaide, Norwood, Glenelg or Sturt.
• Until 31 October 2015, Fremantle can select any player whose father has made 150 WAFL appearances for East Fremantle, South Fremantle, Perth or Swan Districts.
• Until 31 October 2017, Port Adelaide can select any player whose father has made 200 SANFL appearances for the Port Adelaide Magpies, North Adelaide, West Adelaide, Central District, Woodville or West Torrens.

These rules have been frequently criticised by non-Victorian AFL club officials as a "grandfather-son" rule, that is biased against them. For example the Adelaide Crows have not had a single Father-Son selection in twenty years, and missed out on Bryce Gibbs despite his father's 253-game career with SANFL club Glenelg (from 1984–1994). Gibbs was subsequently selected with the first overall pick in the 2006 AFL Draft.

More than one eligible team and player choice

If a player is eligible to be selected by more than one team the individual player may choose which one of these teams is able to pick him under this rule. For example Darcy Daniher's father Anthony Daniher played 118 games with Essendon and 115 with Sydney. Darcy selected Essendon.

Alternatively a player has the right to decline to be selected under the father-son rule and instead be eligible to be drafted by any club. An example of this was Marc Murphy who declined to sign with the Brisbane Lions despite his father - John Murphy - appearing 214 times for the Fitzroy Football Club. Murphy was instead selected as the first pick in the 2005 National Draft by Carlton.

Father-son draft selections

This is a list of all father-son selections since the first VFL draft in 1986.

Year	Drafted player	Club	Father	Selection	Games played	Father's Games played
1988	Sean Bowden	Richmond	Michael Bowden	N/A	6	59
1988	Michael James	Carlton	John James	N/A	12	195
1988	Chris Mulcair	Carlton	Barry Mulcair	N/A	0	20
1988	Heath Shephard	Collingwood	Graeme Shephard	N/A	11	46
1988	Tom Kavanagh	Melbourne	Brent Crosswell
1988	Gareth John	Sydney Swans	Graeme John
1989	Stuart Annand	St Kilda	Bud Annand
1989	Ernie Hug, Jr.	Collingwood	Ernie Hug, Sr.
1989	Ashley McIntosh	West Coast	John McIntosh
1992	Dustin Fletcher	Essendon	Ken Fletcher
1992	Luke Darcy	Footscray	David Darcy
1992	Matthew Richardson	Richmond	Alan Richardson
1992	Darren Walsh	Carlton	Brian Walsh
1992	Glenn Molloy	Melbourne	Graham Molloy
1992	Brad Campbell	Melbourne	Des Campbell
1992	David Sierakowski	St Kilda	Brian Sierakowski
1993	Jarrod Molloy	Fitzroy	Shane Molloy
1994	David Bourke	Richmond	Francis Bourke
1995	Joel Bowden	Richmond	Michael Bowden
1995	Ben Cousins	West Coast	Bryan Cousins
1995	Simon Fletcher	Geelong	Garry Fletcher
1995	Nick Jewell	Richmond	Tony Jewell
1995	David Round	Footscray	Barry Round
1995	David Walls	Carlton	Robert Walls
1996	Lance Whitnall	Carlton	Graeme Whitnall
1997	Marc Woolnough	Geelong	Michael Woolnough
1997	Matthew Scarlett	Geelong	John Scarlett
1998	Brad Oborne	Collingwood	Rod Oborne
1998	Heath James	Sydney Swans	Max James
1998	David A. Clarke	Geelong	David E. Clarke
1998	Nick Davis	Collingwood	Craig Davis
1999	Jonathan Brown	Brisbane Lions	Brian Brown
1999	Shane Morrison	Brisbane Lions	Peter Morrison
1999	Rhyce Shaw	Collingwood	Ray Shaw
1999	Stephen Doyle	Sydney Swans	Robert Doyle
2000	Jason Cloke	Collingwood	David Cloke	19	76
2000	Steven Greene	Hawthorn	Russell Greene	28	42
2001	Gary Ablett, Jr.	Geelong	Gary Ablett, Sr.	40	212*
2001	Jarrad Waite	Carlton	Vin Waite	46	143*
2002	Sean Dempster	Sydney Swans	Graham Dempster	34	119*
2002	Tim Callan	Geelong	Terry Callan	36	34
2002	Jobe Watson	Essendon	Tim Watson	40	132*
2002	Brett Ebert	Port Adelaide	Russell Ebert	42	150*
2002	Cameron Cloke	Collingwood	David Cloke	43	58
2003	Brayden Shaw	Collingwood	Tony Shaw	32	0
2003	Chris Johnson	Melbourne	Alan Johnson	36	46
2003	Tom Roach	Richmond	Michael Roach	37	11
2003	Mark Blake	Geelong	Rod Blake	38	99*
2003	Brett Peake	Fremantle	Brian Peake	43	117*
2003	Heath Shaw	Collingwood	Ray Shaw	48	130*
2004	Travis Cloke	Collingwood	David Cloke	39	149*
2004	Luke Blackwell	Carlton	Wayne Blackwell	41	23
2004	Jesse Smith	Kangaroos	Ross Smith	42	27
2004	Mitch Morton	West Coast Eagles	Noel Morton	44	71*
2004	Nathan Ablett	Geelong	Gary Ablett, Sr.	48	34
2005	Travis Tuck	Hawthorn	Michael Tuck	38	20
2005	Jay Neagle	Essendon	Merv Neagle	39	28
2006	Josh P. Kennedy	Hawthorn	John Kennedy Jr.	40	61*
2006	Tom Hawkins	Geelong	Jack Hawkins	41	79*
2007	Darcy Daniher	Essendon	Anthony Daniher	39	6
2007	Adam Donohue	Geelong	Larry Donohue	60	0
2007	Jaxson Barham	Collingwood	Ricky Barham	61	7
2008	Ayce Cordy	Western Bulldogs	Brian Cordy	14	2*
2010	Mitch Wallis	Western Bulldogs	Stephen Wallis	22	6*
2010	Tom Liberatore	Western Bulldogs	Tony Liberatore	41	16*
2010	Jacob Brennan	West Coast Eagles	Michael Brennan	62	0*
2011	Tom Mitchell	Sydney Swans	Barry Mitchell	21	0*
2011	Dylan Buckley	Carlton	Jim Buckley	62	0*
2011	Jed Bews	Geelong	Andrew Bews	86	0*
Sources: 1986-2009, 2010 & 2011
*Current player games tally at end of 2011 season.
Prior to 1997, father-son selections were taken prior to the draft and hence did not have a selection number. From 1997 to 2006, selections were made in the third round. Since 2007, selections have been subject to a bidding system.

See also

• AFL Draft