Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge has been grilled over the AFL future of his son, Cooper.
Cooper — a talented young footballer — is at the Brisbane Lions academy and, if he is good enough to make it to AFL level, will soon have a decision to make about where he wants to play.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Luke Hodge responds to questions about son’s AFL future.
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He is going into year 12 next year but will be available, all things going well, for the 2026 draft.
Of course, Luke is a former Hawthorn captain and played 305 games for that club, including four premierships. He moved to Brisbane at the end of his career and played two seasons there in 2018 and 2019.
A big call is looming for Cooper, who will be eligible to go to the Hawks under the father-son rule, but the Lions also have a claim on him due to the academy.
Both Hawthorn and Brisbane have their eye on Luke Hodge’s oldest son, Cooper. Credit: Getty Images Speaking on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters , Luke was asked directly which way his son was heading.
“What decision are you going to make?” said veteran AFL journalist Caroline Wilson.
Luke was diplomatic.
“I think it’s up to the clubs,” Hodge said.
He also said the new rules around academy selections could also dictate where Cooper ends up with the AFL about to make it harder for the northern clubs to select multiple players from their academy in a draft.
“It’s going to be a lot stricter the (drafting) criteria …” Hodge said.
But Wilson pressed again.
“If Cooper was the No.1 choice as the Brisbane academy player, and if Hawthorn wanted to take him as a father-son, what’s your gut feeling?” she asked.
Hodge said Cooper was still 13-15 months away from that decision but had “really enjoyed his experience with the academy”.
“There’s no way he would have developed as he has in the last 12 months if it wasn’t for the Lions academy,” Luke said.
“But then on the flip side, Hawthorn have also been great. They’ve had him down to the club a number of times.”
Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes weighed in.
“So you don’t feel the pressure from a Hawthorn point of view that the son of one of their greatest ever players may not play for Hawthorn and that it might be his choice to play for Brisbane? There’s no pressure there?” Cornes said.
Luke said both clubs just wanted to see Cooper succeed.
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“We’ve actually had both clubs say we’re here to help develop Cooper the best we can,” Luke said.
“(They’ve said) we just want him to get on the list to just let him, I guess, achieve his goals.
“But they both have said if he comes to our club, all good and well. If he doesn’t and gets drafted to someone else, they’re OK with that.
“But as I said, he’s still 16. He’s not even 17, so there’s still a lot to go.”
Wilson said she could see Luke was being “diplomatic”.
“I would wager, and I’m not a betting person, that Hawthorn would be devastated if your son didn’t choose Hawthorn if he’s good enough (to make it at AFL level),” Wilson said.
Hodge: “That’s that’s not what they’ve told us. So they have said, and we’ve had the same from both Brisbane and Hawthorn, that they just want to see him develop and achieve his goal.”
The situation is similar to Sydney star Nick Blakey who is the son of John Blakey.
John played over 200 games for North Melbourne and over 130 for Fitzroy, but he was an assistant at Sydney and Nick ended up at the Sydney academy.
Nick was eligible as a father-son for North and Brisbane but ultimately elected to be with Sydney. He was taken by the Swans with pick 10 in the 2018 draft, disappointing many North Melbourne fans.
Hodge said the academies has been “amazing” for football in Queensland and New South Wales.
“When we first got there (to Brisbane) we didn’t know how much football the kids were going to be playing. Now they’re playing 12 months of the year,” he said.
“And I think the (AFL) activity up there in Queensland has doubled. It’s gone from about 40,000 to 80,000 with participation in Queensland.”
He said the academies are also attracting people from rugby league and rugby union backgrounds “because then they can see a pathway”.
“Union isn’t big in Australia anymore, that’s overseas, and league, it’s big up in Queensland, but the AFL is really challenging it, and schools up there have really taken it on board because of the academies,” he said.