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Australian football rule allowing preferential recruiting access

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 club in Australian rules football, most notably in the Australian Football League. The rule was first established in 1949, and 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, allowing a player to be recruited by the club his father had played for, despite being residentially zoned to another club. 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 zoned to North Melbourne. 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 in action at Tobruk during World War II. Barassi was officially cleared to Melbourne under the rule in 1953. 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 third 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, respectively, in 2003.

In 2007, following concerns that potential first round draftees were being selected for an unfairly low draft pick under the father–son rule, a bidding system was established to ensure father–son recruits could still be preferentially drafted by the father's club, but for a fair draft value. Under the 2007 amendment, any club could bid on another club's son with one of its draft picks, and the father's club then had the right to recruit the son by giving up its next pick. The bidding process occurred prior to the draft, but the decisions made while bidding were binding during the draft. For example, in 2008 the Western Bulldogs used a first round selection to secure Ayce Cordy after St Kilda bid a higher first round selection for him. The bidding system was further refined in 2015. Under the current system:
Each draft pick is assigned a value (with No. 1 starting at 3000 points, declining exponentially until No. 74 which has no value), which is regressed from historical player salary data. During the draft, any club may bid for a father–son eligible player with any draft pick. The father's club, if it wishes to select the son, must then use its next one or more draft picks until the total points value of the surrendered picks adds up to the value of the draft pick used by the bidding, less a discount – which is either 20% of the bid value or 197 points (equivalent to pick No. 56), whichever is greater. Any points left over after reaching the bid value result in the partially spent draft pick being shuffled down the order based on its remaining points. The club which originally made the bid then has the next selection in the draft. The same bidding process has also been used since 2015 by the New South Wales and Queensland clubs to gain preferential access to their states' academy players.

As of March 2011, eligibility of players differs depending upon the home state of the team making the selection.

A player is eligible if his father played 100 or more senior games for the clubs. In the cases of the two interstate clubs with historic links to Victorian Football League teams, namely the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans, the sons of players who appeared 100 times for their Victorian predecessors: the Fitzroy Lions in the case of the Brisbane Lions; and the South Melbourne Football Club in the case of the Sydney Swans.

In addition to the standard eligibility rules, the South Australian and Western Australian clubs have a modified rule in place with eligibility to be determined by a certain number of games played for specific sides in SANFL or WAFL, if those games were played prior to the club entering the AFL. These rules have been frequently criticised by non Victorian AFL club officials as a "grandfather–son" rule that is biased against them. For example, Adelaide missed out on Bryce Gibbs despite his father Ross Gibbs's 253 game career with SANFL club Glenelg from 1984 to 1994, as Ross had only played 191 of the required 200 games before Adelaide began AFL play in 1991. Bryce Gibbs was subsequently selected by Carlton with the first overall pick in the 2006 AFL draft. Adelaide did not make a single father–son selection until 2016; furthermore, it was not until 2023 that a Crows father–son pick (Max Michalanney, selected in 2022) earned an AFL game.

Under previous rules, the sons of a senior administrator, such as a president, vice president, general manager or senior coach, with a tenure of at least five years at a club, would be eligible to be drafted under the father–son rule by that club; and and were previously able to recruit players whose fathers had met eligibility criteria in the Queensland Australian Football League and the Sydney Football League respectively. Neither of these rules are in place as of 2012. 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 other club. An example of this was Marc Murphy who declined to sign with the Brisbane Lions despite his father, John Murphy, playing 214 games for the Fitzroy Football Club. Murphy was instead selected as the first pick in the 2005 National Draft by Carlton.

With the establishment of AFL Women's from the 2017 season, the AFL introduced an equivalent father–daughter recruitment rule, enabling clubs priority recruitment access to daughters of former senior players. Under this rule, the father needs to only have played one senior match for his club for his daughter to be eligible. The first father–daughter selection was in 2018, when Carlton selected Abbie McKay, the daughter of Andrew McKay. A mother–son and mother–daughter rule have been discussed, but to date have not been created.