Cats, Crows to offer sons of guns AFL spot

Geelong and Adelaide are set to secure respective father-son prospects Sam Simpson and Ben Jarman at Monday’s AFL rookie draft.

Sam, the son of 114-game Cat Sean Simpson, and Ben, the son of Crows and Hawthorn great Darren Jarman, were available to any club at Friday night’s draft after Geelong and Adelaide decided not to follow through with their initial father-son nominations.

But the pair remain undrafted and assuming they make it through the rarely used pre-season draft, both clubs have guaranteed them a rookie spot.

“We’re very excited that Sam Simpson wasn’t picked and (should) get through to us at the rookie draft,” list manager Stephen Wells told AAP.

“So we’ll take Sam and then use another three picks.

“We’ll go back and do our homework now to try and find the best group of players for us to consider.”

Both clubs initially flagged the pair as father-son prospects with the AFL, but decided against following through with the official paperwork.

Despite that, they now have first call on those players at the rookie draft.

“As long as Ben gets through the pre-season draft, which I think we all know these days it’s rare that’s someone is taken … we would certainly guarantee Ben a rookie spot,” Crows list manager Justin Reid told FIVEaa radio on Friday night.

“All falling into place, Ben will be down at the club on Tuesday morning ready to go.”

The three players who were officially tabbed as father-son selections made their way to their respective clubs at the national draft in Sydney.

West Coast picked up Chris Waterman’s son Jake with the 77th and final pick of the draft, with Collingwood securing Callum Brown and Josh Daicos..

With other clubs able to bid on father-son prospects as early as they see fit, the cards fell the Pies’ way.

They matched a North Melbourne bid for Gavin Brown’s son Callum at pick 35 and secured Peter Daicos’ son Josh at pick 57 after no other clubs bid for him.

“It really should be noted that they’re with us now because they deserve to be … it’s not a gift,” chief recruiter Derek Hine told AAP.

“We can’t get ourselves into a situation where we’re gifting spots on the list and they’ve absolutely deserved their spots.”

The annual player movement period is drawing to a close, with all clubs required to submit their final player lists and total player payment estimates to the AFL by Wednesday at 2pm.

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