No father/son nominations for this year's draft

FOR THE first time since 1991, the NAB AFL Draft will not feature a father/son selection.

Father/son selections are made just before the start of the AFL player exchange period, with clubs giving up a draft pick to secure the player.

And with this year's trade week tipped to be one of the busiest in recent memory, no player nominated as a father/son selection before Friday's deadline.

As a result, there will be no bid meeting when trade week gets underway on Monday morning.

If more than one club is interested in a player, a bidding war can ensue. That was the case last year when Ayce Cordy, whose father Brian played 124 games for the Western Bulldogs, required the club to use their first-round pick (No.14) to recruit him after the Saints bid their first-round pick.

The father/son rule was created after World War II when Melbourne wanted to select Ron Barassi, whose father had played with the Demons, despite the younger Barassi being zoned to Carlton.

The Demons successfully lobbied the VFL to change the rules to allow them to select the future champion.

The rule has passed through several incarnations before arriving at the current system.

Two of the most famous names in the competition – Matthew Richardson and Gary Ablett – were father/son selections in 1992 and 2001 respectively.

This year's best and fairest at Essendon, Jobe Watson, joined the club under the same rule, as did teammate Dustin Fletcher.