With the AFL officially handing Tasmania a licence to join the competition in 2028, fans will wonder what draft concessions the new club will receive in their formative years.
While the new team will likely receive bundles of early picks, much as Gold Coast and GWS did in their first few seasons, The Age is also reporting that they could have access to father-son selections.
With no ex-players producing potential father-sons, the report says the new club will have the right to big for the sons of any former Tasmanian if they played a minimum of 100 AFL games.
Given most of the eligible players would have also had fathers that played 100 games for a single club, draftees would have to nominate a preferred club to go to - Tasmania, or the club their father played 100 games for.
Sons of AFL stars such as Jack Riewoldt, Jeremy Howe and Ben Brown would fall under that category, and SEN’s Gerard Whateley and Sam Edmund responded to the reported new rule.
Whateley: “I enjoyed the idea that was reported by Jake Niall and Michael Gleeson in The Age.
“Any father out of Tasmania who's played 100 games and qualified, their son would be eligible to choose Tassie as well as the team that their father played for.”
Edmund: “It’s essentially their version of the father-son rule, but still with the framework that you have to 100 games a minimum.
“That's obviously Jack Riewoldt, that's Nick Riewoldt given he was born there, that’s Jeremy Howe, that's Ben Brown, that's Jimmy Webster, Toby Nankervis and on and on.
“It’s even Brad Green and Mathew Richardson himself, of course.
“So I like that, I like the father-son rule, or the mother-daughter rule as it were and I like the fact they're gonna try and apply that to the Tassie team.”
At this stage, Tasmania’s first opportunity to draft players will come in 2027 ahead of their proposed inaugural season of 2028.
Current Tasmanian players that have played 100 AFL games
Jack Riewoldt - 332 games for Richmond
Jeremy Howe - 120 games for Collingwood, 100 games for Melbourne
Liam Jones - 73 games for Western Bulldogs, 95 games for Carlton
Ben Brown - 35 games for Melbourne, 130 games for North Melbourne
Brody Mihocek - 109 games for Collingwood
Jimmy Webster - 135 games for St Kilda
Toby Nankervis - 113 games for Richmond, 12 games for Sydney
Jake Kolodjashnij - 159 games for Geelong
Hugh Greenwood - 26 games for North Melbourne, 32 games for Gold Coast, 41 games for Adelaide
Aaron Hall - 54 games for North Melbourne, 103 games for Gold Coast
Lachie Weller - 86 games for Gold Coast, 47 games for Fremantle