Essendon is set to capitalise on the AFLW father-daughter rule in future years with daughters to be included in a revamped James Hird Academy.

With famous Essendon names including Lloyd, Lucas, Bewick, Long and O’Donnell among many others all having daughters, the opportunity to follow in their father’s footsteps might soon become a reality.  

A timeframe on introducing the daughters to the James Hird Academy program is yet to be finalised but Essendon List and Recruiting Manager Adrian Dodoro said it would be exciting for Bomber fans to see the daughters of these Essendon champions in the red and black.

“We’re really proud of our history at Essendon and part of maintaining that is through families ongoing connection with the Club,” he said.

“We’ve been fortunate at AFL level to see the next part of the Long and Daniher lineages emerge in recent years and obviously the Fletcher and Watson families have given us so much to cheer about over the many decades.

“The James Hird Academy helps young footballers develop their game but it also shows them where their Dad used to work and that’s really important.

“So the opportunity to further strengthen the Club’s ongoing connection with these proud Essendon families and hopefully unearth some emerging AFLW talent is a really exciting one.”