Hawthorn fans in cyberspace are giddy with excitement over the birth today of Smith Thomas Mitchell, the firstborn son of Hawk skipper Sam Mitchell.
They've done the maths and projected forward to the 2028 season when they hope young Smith will be making his debut for the club. Hopefully alongside him will be Cooper Hodge, who will be nearly 20 at the time.
That's the beauty of the father-son rule, which the AFL has smartly decided to tweak on the run, rather than discard, in an age of drafts, salary caps and all round level playing fields.
You'd think the way the game is evolving that Smith Mitchell would want to be a few centimetres taller and few yard quicker than his old man, who didn't quite fit the AFL mould when he was first eligible for the draft. With a huge appetite for work and some of the best hands in the game, Mitchell has now become one of the premier midfielders in footy.
The father-son rule adds a touch of much-needed romance to footy. Hawk fans tracked the fortunes of Shane and Travis Tuck as they followed in the footsteps of their famous father. It worked out for Travis at the Hawks, while Shane thrived away from the club and has given great service to Richmond. Josh Kennedy's debut for the Hawks in 2008 was greeted with great excitement given the deeds of his father and grandfather before him and it was with some regret he was traded to Sydney at the end of last season.
Some Hawk fans are already looking ahead to the debut of one of Chris Langford's sons, who from all accounts, is one of the most highly-touted juniors in NSW.
Right now, it is Geelong that is reaping the rewards of the father-son rule. Last year's premiership team contained four father-son selections - Matthew Scarlett, Gary Ablett, Mark Blake and Tom Hawkins - and might be the reason why the rule was changed from straight qualification 100 games) to the bidding system where clubs had to forfeit an appropriate draft pick in order to make a father-son selection.
The Lions have done marvellously well out of Jonathan Brown, whose father was a low-profile back-pocket for Fitzroy, but who nevertheless played enough games in order to smooth his son's passage to Brisbane.
The Lions did their best to secure Marc Murphy as well, but he opted to remain in Victoria and now stars for Carlton. The Clokes and the Shaws were all given an opportunity to make it with Collingwood, although some then moved on to other clubs.
The impending entry to the AFL of Gold Coast and GWS may require further tweaking of the father-son rule, as was the case when the league expanded to South Australia and Western Australia. The Crows narrowly missed out on Bryce Gibbs, but a decade before, Ben Cousins was able to find his way to West Coast when Geelong had equal claims.
There are a few hard-heads who would like to see the father-son rule scrapped entirely, arguing it compromises the integrity of the draft.
But for the rest of us, it would be a step too far and a step in the wrong direction.