Editing Ron Barassi (section)

===Father–son rule===
[[File:17 year old Ron Barassi Jnr with his fathers trophies and guernsey from The Herald 13 April 1953 pg 16.png|thumb|upright|Barassi in 1953 with his father's trophies and guernsey]]
To ensure he played with the Demons, Melbourne went to the [[Australian Football League|VFL]] and successfully lobbied for the creation of a [[father–son rule]] to allow clubs preferential recruiting access to the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the team (50-game minimum at launch). When the time came for Barassi to be signed, Melbourne picked him from Preston Scouts in 1952 and he became only the second player signed under the new rule (after [[Harvey Dunn Jr.|Harvey Dunn Jr]]). This rule, with some modifications and adapted to the drafting system created in 1986, endures to the present day in the AFL.<ref name="sahof.org.au"/>

The club had gone to great lengths to recruit the young Barassi, and coach [[Norm Smith]] took him under his wing after his mother moved to [[Tasmania]]. Smith offered the 16-year-old use of his backyard bungalow. Looking back on the experience, Barassi believed that living with the man who was voted as the coach of the [[AFL Team of the Century|AFL's Team of the Century]] had a profound impact on his development. On his website, Barassi wrote that:<ref>{{cite web |title=Ron Barassi |url=http://www.ronbarassi.com.au/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029131108/http://www.ronbarassi.com.au/ |archive-date=29 October 2009 |access-date=2 January 2010 |publisher=ronbarassi.com.au}}</ref><blockquote>"Norm Smith loved his footy. That suited me fine. His ability with young people, his strength of character, his ethics and values, came into my life at the right time."</blockquote>