Father-son candidates Patrick Naish and Tyler Brown move closer to joining the AFL
FIVE of the AFL’s biggest clubs are eyeing off possible father-son selections at this year’s draft. Find out how Naish, Brown, Edwards, McLeod and more are tracking here.
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FIVE of the AFL’s biggest clubs are eyeing off possible father-son selections at this year’s draft.
Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn and Carlton all have sons of guns eligible for selection while the Adelaide Crows could potentially call out two famous surnames on draft night.
The pick of the bunch is Patrick Naish, who cemented his place as a first-round pick after starring at the recent National Championships.
The son of Richmond player Chris, Naish reads the play like a book from the half-back line and racks up possessions in the midfield.
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One recruiter said of Naish, “He is the classiest player in the draft. Tiger fans are going to love him.”
Naish was named in Vic Metro’s best players in three of the four National Championships games and, in what is shaping up as shallow draft, could be looked at as a top 10 pick.
He will be one of two father-son hopefuls at October’s national draft combine with Tyler Brown, the son of Collingwood premiership player and former club captain Gavin, securing an invite.
The Magpies selected Tyler’s brother Callum as a father-son last year with the teenager making his AFL debut on Queen’s Birthday.
His TAC Cup coach, former Essendon footballer Darren Bewick, said seeing Callum debut was the motivation Tyler needed.
“He is very different to Cal. Cal was footy, footy, footy from a very young age and Tyler is just understanding that now,” Bewick said.
“Seeing his brother go through what he did and the opportunities that might arise for him has probably been the impetus for him to, ‘let me have a crack at it’.
“His upside is enormous. He has some X-factor about him that not many other players have.”
Tyler is taller than Callum, coming in at 188cm, and has split his time between the midfield and the forward line for the Eastern Ranges.
After welcoming the club’s first father-son selection in its history last year, the floodgates could be about to open at Adelaide.
Jackson Edwards, the son of 300-game player and premiership Crow Tyson, has dominated at SANFL reserves level and is on the cusp of earning selection in the Glenelg seniors.
A high-quality outside midfielder, Edwards spent a two-week block training with Adelaide during the pre-season.
The Crows could also select Connor McLeod, the son of two-time premiership player and two-time Norm Smith Medal winner Andrew.
McLeod has had an injury interrupted season, splitting his time between school football and playing for the Woodville-West Torrens.
However, just like his father, Connor’s timing could be his best asset. His fitness is building and he played his best game for Torrens last week.
AFL reputations don’t come much bigger than Dermott Brereton and now the Hawks will have the chance to select the five-time premiership player’s son, Devlin.
While at the start of the year Devlin was not considered a high draft chance, he has continued to improve throughout the TAC Cup season with the Sandringham Dragons.
Not surprisingly, Devlin has his father’s trademark ability to lay a bone-crunching tackle.
Carlton will get first crack at Liam Hickmott, the son of Adrian. Liam is currently playing in the WAFL Colts for Subiaco. He is a member of Carlton’s father-son academy.
Lachlan Harris, the son of former Lion Leon, is eligible to be taken by Brisbane.
WHAT THEIR CLUBS ARE SAYING
PATRICK NAISH RICHMOND — SON OF CHRIS
TAC Cup Club: Northern Knights
Position: Half-back/midfield
“He is a really natural footballer. He sees the game really well. His strength is his ability to take the game on with the ball in hand and use his long, penetrating right foot kick. He is always able to play a role for the team whether that is on a wing, half-forward or half-back, he plays his role extremely well. His GPS numbers are probably in the top three in the whole of Vic Metro. His high intensity running, his overall distance covered, his ability to cover the ground is outstanding. He is right up there with every player in the country in terms of his off the ball running and his high-speed efforts on game day.” – Northern Knights region manager Rhy Gieschen.
TYLER BROWN COLLINGWOOD — SON OF GAVIN
TAC Cup Club: Eastern Ranges
Position: Midfielder/forward
“In the past six to 12 months, he has really started to grow into his body. He is starting to understand how hard it is and how hard you have to work to play at the next level. His talent is untapped, he has a massive ceiling in terms of where he could potentially get to. He just does AFL things, there are things he does in games, I call it having the ‘Brown brain’. Dad had it, Cal clearly has it and I think Tyler has it somewhere in there, too.” - Eastern Ranges talent manager Len Villani.
JACKSON EDWARDS ADELAIDE — SON OF TYSON
SANFL Club: Glenelg
Position: Midfielder/half-back/wing
“He is a really motivated young fella who doesn’t leave any stone unturned. His footy itself has been doing the talking. His carnival was really good. He is going to be a real chance to play some league footy with us over the next couple of weeks which is a credit to him. His ball-winning ability and use of it has been outstanding.” - Glenelg talent manager Brenton Hole.
CONNOR MCLEOD ADELAIDE — SON OF ANDREW
SANFL Club: Woodville-West Torrens
Position: Half-back
“He was injured across April with a broken ankle. He has probably been playing (school football) for a month or so and the last couple of weeks with us. He certainly played his best game for the club on the weekend. He is gaining some confidence and fitness as the season unfolds. He plays across half-back. He reads the football really well. He has good evasiveness and awareness.” - Woodville-West Torrens development manager Darren Hams.
DEVLIN BRERETON HAWTHORN- SON OF DERMOTT
TAC Cup Club: Sandringham Dragons
Position: Forward
“He has certainly made some dramatic improvement since the start of the year, mainly as a hybrid forward. I’d say that is his best position. He has probably played his best footy in school footy. He is showing some good signs and we have got really high hopes for him going forward.” - Sandringham Dragons coach Jeremy Barnard.
LACHLAN HARRIS BRISBANE — SON OF LEON
TAC Cup Club: Sandringham Dragons
Position: Small-forward/ midfielder
“We’ve really tried to develop him in the last few weeks as a small pressure forward. He is really good low to the ground, knows where the goals are and puts really strong tackling pressure on the opposition. He has a really strong work-rate up and down the ground.” - Sandringham Dragons coach Jeremy Barnard.
Originally published as Father-son candidates Patrick Naish and Tyler Brown move closer to joining the AFL
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