OVER the years, Geelong has fully enjoyed the fruits of the AFL’s father-son rule.

Go all the way back to 1951-52 premiership winger Leo Turner and his son Michael, a former Cats captain, and then zoom into the modern era for a boom crop of offspring.

In recent years Geelong has seen Gary and Nathan Ablett, Tom Hawkins, Mark Blake and Matthew Scarlett wear the blue and white hoops like their dads Gary, Jack, Rod and John.

So yet another father-son combination could be completed in this year’s AFL draft if Geelong decides to pick Jed Bews, the teenage son of former captain Andrew Bews.

While that draft decision may not be known until October, Bews will get his chance to press his claims by playing the next three games with Geelong’s VFL team.

After showing good consistent form with the Geelong Falcons in the TAC Cup competition, the Cats have decided to run the rule over 17-year-old Bews at the next level.

“We haven’t come to agreement with him (about being drafted),” Geelong recruiting chief Stephen Wells said. “It’s just an opportunity for us to assess him. We genuinely don’t know if we’ll take him yet.

“This is all part of his overall football experience and education. It’s a good opportunity for us to get to know him and him to get to know us and after he’s finished his stint with us he’ll go back and play with the Falcons.”

Overlooked for the Vic Country team that played at the Under-18 national championship, Bews lifted his game several notches and has caught the eye playing on the ball, on the wing and in defence.

At 180cm, Jed stands a good few centimetres taller than his father, who played 282 games for Geelong and Brisbane between 1982 and 1998, but he is certainly not relying on his father’s reputation to get ahead.

After playing seniors for Leopold in the Geelong Football League last season, Bews can handle himself against older, more experienced players so will not be overawed stepping into the VFL.

Indeed, the three games against Bendigo, Casey and Collingwood will certainly give Bews a chance to impress the Geelong decision-makers, but his draft chances will not be locked in one way or the other by his performances.

“It will have some influence,” Wells said. “It won’t be the be all and end all. As much as anything it’s for the coaches to get to know him a bit. We’d like to see him perform well, not only in the games, but understanding the structures. It’s just part of the whole thing and we’ll assess his whole year and take that into account.”

Within a few months Jed Bews could join the father-son ranks at Geelong and he surely will not be the last if he does get the call ahead of the national draft.

Already, the Cats are keeping an eye on Jordan Bourke, the son of former Cats captain Damian Bourke, who becomes eligible to be drafted next year as the fruit of the former Geelong men continues to bloom.