WESTERN Bulldogs father-son prospect Darcy MacPherson will play with the club's VFL team in the next month after finding some strong form at under-18 level.
The 17-year-old, son of former Bulldog Stephen MacPherson, is eligible to join the Dogs under the father-son rule at this year's NAB AFL Draft.
After returning from shoulder surgery, the 177cm midfielder has impressed for the Northern Knights and gathered 32 disposals against the Western Jets last month.
Bulldogs recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple told AFL.com.au the club would give MacPherson a chance to show his wares in the Footscray VFL team in the next few weeks.
"He's had a few injuries this year which has restricted him. He's been in our father-son program for a number of years and is a really good young fella. He's got a great attitude, is really keen on his footy and is developing nicely," Dalrymple said on this week's Road to the Draft podcast.
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"He's going to play some VFL football for us in the back-end of the year so that will be a good experience for him and will give us a chance to assess him against the AFL-listed players."
The Bulldogs have been beneficiaries of the father-son rule in recent years, with Tom Liberatore, Mitch Wallis, Ayce and Zaine Cordy and Lachie Hunter all being acquired under the previous bidding system.
MacPherson could be the next name added to the list at the club where his dad played 188 games between 1982-95, and was a hard-at-it player who kicked 152 goals.
With the Bulldogs sitting sixth on the ladder in coach Luke Beveridge's first season, Dalrymple, who has overseen the club's recruiting since 2009, said the club was pleased with the shape of its list.
Steve MacPherson shoots out a handball for the Bulldogs at the Western Oval in 1985He pointed to the ruck position as an area that needed boosting.
"I think the list is fairly well balanced. We're still very young, so there will be issues emerge no doubt. The ability of a ruck/forward type, a mobile sort of player, would be handy, but they're few and far between," Dalrymple said.
"We've had an interesting experience this year with a few different ruckmen playing, so that's something that the list management group is all over."
Dalrymple shared his views on a number of issues in the recruiting world on the podcast, including his take that there are too many over-age draft hopefuls playing in the under-18 competition.
Present rules allow division one teams in the national championships to play three prospects who are in their 19th year, while division two teams can play four (numbers for the Northern Territory are unlimited).
TAC Cup sides are able to play five over-age players who have missed out on the previous year's draft, but Dalrymple said the introduction of trading future picks meant a priority should be given to bottom-aged players.
"The 19-year-old rule I think has gone too far. There's just too many 19-year-olds playing in the under-18 competition. What we need to look at as an industry is the opportunity cost. Who misses out on games as a result of [19-year-old] boys playing?" he said.
"You need to experience playing and 17-year-olds need to play, especially if we were to bring in the trading of future picks, there'd have to be a quota of 17-year-olds playing each game, otherwise you don't see them. They're playing club footy."
