Father-son picks: Who is on your club’s radar?

WHILE Magpie fans salivate at the thought of another Daicos and Brown wearing black and white, there are a number of other father-son candidates for this year’s draft.

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WHILE the Magpie fans are salivating at the thought of another Daicos and another Brown wearing the black and white, there are a number of other father-son candidates for this year’s draft.

Josh Daicos (son of Peter) and Callum Brown (Gavin) will be tested further this week at Vic Metro Under-18 trials, with selectors looking to trim their squad leading into the National Under-18 championships.

Both Daicos (178cm) at Oakleigh Chargers and Brown (177cm) with Eastern Ranges are creative players who can play up the ground or as small forwards, as Brown highlighted with three goals in last year’s TAC Cup preliminary final and a fine game on Sunday for Eastern.

Collingwood isn’t the only team with a pair of potential father-sons eligible this year. West Coast can nominate 189cm lead-up forward Jake Waterman (Chris) or 189cm utility Zane Sumich (Peter) as father-sons. Both have shown genuine promise with Waterman a member of the NAB AFL Academy and playing for WA last week, while Sumich has had less exposure. Chris’s older son Alec is on the Eagles’ rookie list.

West Coast fitness staff take a close look at Jake Waterman (left) and Zane Sumich.

Jordan Matera, son of champion Eagles winger and Norm Smith medallist Peter Matera, was overlooked in last year’s draft but hasn’t given up on his AFL dream, joining South Fremantle in the WALL.

Michael Romero (178cm), son of Jose, spent the pre-season training with the Western Bulldogs where his athletic abilities impressed, Romero having been an under-age national hurdles champion. He is playing with Calder Cannons before concentrating on school football with St Kevin’s, where he plays midfield or small forward/defence.

Jesse Maxfield, son of former Sydney captain Stuart, is playing as a small midfielder/forward for Sandringham Dragons.

Ben Jarman not surprisingly has a special skill set given his father Darren displayed rare talent with both Hawthorn and Adelaide. At 175cm he is shorter than his dad, and if Adelaide decides to nominate him he will become the Crows’ first ever father/son draftee.

Jarman has played the first two games this year for North Adelaide under new coach Josh Carr and is a classy and creative small midfielder/forward. He will be able to choose between the Crows and Hawks and is currently rated in the top 10 SA draft prospects.

Ben Jarman flies for a mark in the SANFL. Picture: Stephen Laffer

Impressing in Round 2 of the TAC Cup for Northern Knights was 177cm Jake Bradley (son of Craig) who like his father has some serious running skills. He wasn’t part of the system in his early years but impresses as a late developer.

Rounding out the father-son prospects is Matthew Neagle (Merv) who is a 180cm defender with the Murray Bushrangers who could be picked by Essendon in November.

Looking ahead to future drafts, Richmond could have its first father-son pick since Tom Roach in 2003 in Patrick Naish, son of Chris who played 153 games for the Tigers from 1990-97. The Northern Knights midfielder was awarded a scholarship to join the AFL Academy after impressing for Vic Metro in last year’s under-16 carnival on the Gold Coast and is high on the radar for 2017 draft. Bailey Lambert, son of Craig, is a member of the GWS academy.

Bailey Lambert will be eligible to join Richmond under the father-son rule. Picture: John Appleyard

Connor McLeod, son of Adelaide legend Andrew, is another 2017 prospect. The highly-skilled utility is on the Woodville-West Torrens list.

And Jackson Edwards plays for Glenelg’s under-18 side — coached by his dad Tyson. He is a talented left-footed midfielder.

And looking way into the future, Essendon has more than 40 sons of former players on the books of the James Hird Academy including Dustin Fletcher’s sons Mason (15) and Max (14), Hird’s sons Tom (14), Alex (12) and William (6) and Brent Stanton’s son Aiden, who is yet to celebrate his first birthday.

North Melbourne also has a father-son academy with students including Nicholas Blakey (John), Joel Crocker (Darren), James Rock (Anthony) and Jackson Archer (Glenn).

And if Brent Harvey can hang on for another six years, he might get to play alongside son Cooper.

Brent Stanton’s baby son Aiden is already signed up to the James Hird Academy. Picture: Michael Klein

— with Andrew Capel