Father-son rule

The father–son rule is a rule that allows clubs preferential recruiting access to 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 the late 1940s. There have been more than ten amendments, most recently the refining of the draft bidding process in 2015.

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, 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.

Prior to 1997 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. In 1997 the father–son rule was altered to force clubs to use a second round draft selection for their first father–son selection. If two players were to be drafted by the same club in the same year, then a third round selection was used for the second player. Geelong used this rule in 1997 to draft Marc Woolnough with their second selection and Matthew Scarlett with their third round pick, whilst Collingwood chose to not select Marcus Picken. In 2001, the rule was changed to only allow a single selection per year, costing the club a third round selection. Notably, this rule allowed Geelong to draft Gary Ablett Jr. (who, while only rated a mid-range draft possibility at the time, went on to win two Brownlow Medals) to the club in 2001 using only their 3rd round (40th overall) draft pick. In 2003 the rules were changed again to allow multiple players to be drafted in a single year, with a third round selection used for the first player and a second round selection being used for the second player. Collingwood drafted cousins Brayden and Heath Shaw using their second and third round selection in 2003.

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