Adelaide is in the box seat to secure father/son prospect Ben Jarman
ADELAIDE has never had a father-son selection. However, that could all be about to change with the Crows closing in on Ben Jarman.
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ADELAIDE is in the box seat to secure father/son prospect Ben Jarman if it wants him but neither the Crows or rival Hawthorn is yet to make a commitment to the teenager 48 hours from the nomination deadline.
Jarman’s manager told The Advertiser he had asked both clubs which have the option of declaring their intention to select him as a father/son pick to give him space to finish his Year 12 exams in the past week.
And while both clubs have been in contact since the football season finished and interviewed him at the draft combine, neither has said anything official ahead of Monday’s deadline to nominate him as a selection.
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Ben’s father Darren played 121 games for Adelaide and 109 for Hawthorn meaning the youngster is eligible to join either club under the father/son rule.
It is ultimately the player’s decision which club to nominate - if any at all.
“We will probably know if not today (Friday) then definitely by Monday ... and then we can have a more meaningful discussion,” Jarman’s manager Dimitris Parhas said.
“With Ben in his last week of school we’ve kept it low key and I spoke to Adelaide and Hawthorn and asked them to respect that this is his last week of Year 12.”
Parhas said he was “not sure” whether Adelaide or Hawthorn had made a decision on Jarman and said the small forward/midfielder had not made one either.
“No he hasn’t, he will make a decision next week,” Parhas said.
Clubs can select a player under the father/son rule with a pick in the national draft in Sydney on November 25.
But rival clubs can out-bid them using a points system which is attached to their draft selections.
Adelaide enters the draft with Picks 13 (worth 1212 points), 53 (233 points), 67 (69 points) as well as 89, 107, 125 and 143 which aren’t worth anything.
The Hawks’ aggressive trade period in which they netted Sydney’s Tom Mitchell and Gold Coast’s Jaeger O’Meara means they don’t enter the draft until Pick 88 and then have 90, 108, 126 and 144 which have no points value at all.
Opinion remains divided over where Jarman fits into the national draft but recruiters from two AFL clubs have him pencilled in at Pick 40 and beyond.
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The 175cm Rooster enhanced his prospects at the national draft combine earlier this month when he excelled in the skills testing.
The Crows have never had a father/son draftee in the club’s history while Hawthorn took Josh Kennedy in 2006, Travis Tuck in 2005 and Steven Greene in 2000.
reece.homfray@news.com.au
Originally published as Adelaide is in the box seat to secure father/son prospect Ben Jarman