Strategy Aaron Naughton - Key Defender or Key Forward?

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For Naughton to have a huge season (60+ goals and a Coleman type of huge) we need a much better forward set up than we had on Wednesday.

There needs to be another tall(ish) forward who represents a genuine threat of kicking 3-4 goals if not given attention. Someone like Bruce or Jamarra. The smalls have to pose more of a danger too. Otherwise Naughton will simply draw all the attention with blockers and spoilers.

Footy is played differently today compared to the late 20th century when it was more a result of individual 1-on-1 brilliance. It was the days before the national draft when teams could be massively mismatched too. There were as many as three full forwards likely to kick 100 goals in some seasons. It's now much more about structure, zoning, balance and team tactics. I doubt anybody will ever again get near the 150 in a season kicked by Pratt and Hudson.

That said, I'm starting to think Naughton could kick 70 goals this year. He'd need to average roughly 3 a game if he played every round.
 
dogwatch said:
For Naughton to have a huge season (60+ goals and a Coleman type of huge) we need a much better forward set up than we had on Wednesday.

There needs to be another tall(ish) forward who represents a genuine threat of kicking 3-4 goals if not given attention. Someone like Bruce or Jamarra. The smalls have to pose more of a danger too. Otherwise Naughton will simply draw all the attention with blockers and spoilers.

Footy is played differently today compared to the late 20th century when it was more a result of individual 1-on-1 brilliance. It was the days before the national draft when teams could be massively mismatched too. There were as many as three full forwards likely to kick 100 goals in some seasons. It's now much more about structure, zoning, balance and team tactics. I doubt anybody will ever again get near the 150 in a season kicked by Pratt and Hudson.

That said, I'm starting to think Naughton could kick 70 goals this year. He'd need to average roughly 3 a game if he played every round.
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I think he’s already pretty consistent as in he rarely plays a bad game, but to go to that real next step of being a genuine 70-80 goal forward (which is a big big year these days) he’s going to need to start kicking those big bags, turning 3s and 4s into 7s and 8s every now and then, which he hasn’t really done before but tbh he’s kicked 2.5 or 3.4 etc multiple times so if his accuracy is up he is a real genuine chance at having one of those years.

11.3 so far this year is verrrrry promising - if he keeps that up geez
 

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doggies ftw said:
I think he’s already pretty consistent as in he rarely plays a bad game, but to go to that real next step of being a genuine 70-80 goal forward (which is a big big year these days) he’s going to need to start kicking those big bags, turning 3s and 4s into 7s and 8s every now and then, which he hasn’t really done before but tbh he’s kicked 2.5 or 3.4 etc multiple times so if his accuracy is up he is a real genuine chance at having one of those years.

11.3 so far this year is verrrrry promising - if he keeps that up geez
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Yes, you need a few big days of 7-8 goals to maintain a 3 goal average. There will be other days he misses out or only kicks 1.
 
samDD said:
Some of you guys might pot Bontempelli for kicking it to Alex Pearce in the second quarter, but that was Aaron Naughton not leading when he needed to. He just doesn't have much forward IQ imo.

The fact that he's kicked as many goals as he has is a testament to his athleticism and marking ability, but I think he would be a much better, more consistent footballer as a defender.
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Spot on at the ground was even worse as you can see the space Naugton had.

Bont let him know
 
I’ve been a big advocate for leaving him forward… but… Jamarra coming on and Darcy looking like he can play some decent minutes next season does give us options.

If Bruce can rediscover his form (unlikely in my opinion) there is the potential to have a forward line of him, Lobb and Marra, with Darcy also getting a taste.

With a backline of Jones, Naughton and then the likes of Gardner/ Keath getting the third forward. Or even better, Keath/ Gardner getting the 2nd defender and Naughton/ Darcy playing as interceptors.

The point being next season we will essentially have 4 key position players that we didn’t have this season in bringing in Jones and Lobb, and Marra and Darcy moving from unknowns to looking like they belong in the seniors (Darcy still has some way to go).

If you had a gun to my head I’d still say keep him forward, but next year we will have the tools to consider a move back.
 
The Inbetweener said:
I’ve been a big advocate for leaving him forward… but… Jamarra coming on and Darcy looking like he can play some decent minutes next season does give us options.

If Bruce can rediscover his form (unlikely in my opinion) there is the potential to have a forward line of him, Lobb and Marra, with Darcy also getting a taste.

With a backline of Jones, Naughton and then the likes of Gardner/ Keath getting the third forward. Or even better, Keath/ Gardner getting the 2nd defender and Naughton/ Darcy playing as interceptors.

The point being next season we will essentially have 4 key position players that we didn’t have this season in bringing in Jones and Lobb, and Marra and Darcy moving from unknowns to looking like they belong in the seniors (Darcy still has some way to go).

If you had a gun to my head I’d still say keep him forward, but next year we will have the tools to consider a move back.
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Just building around Darcy back makes a lot more sense. I’m liking the ability to throw him back late in games now though that we have Jamarra a genuine target up front.
 
I’ve come around to leave Darcy back for the moment. Most weeks he has a matchup back there like a really tall forward or a resting ruck so I’m happy to develop him back for the moment.

Lobb nor Jamarra are leaders of the forward line (well Jamarra not yet anyway).
 
The Inbetweener said:
True. Everything we’ve heard out of the club though is that they see Darcy more as a forward
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Yeah seems that way but I hope the clubs reconsidering whilst seeing what an asset it can be to have a defender taking marks. This bloke will take 10 intercept marks a week at his peak, I think there’s a real case to be made for him staying there - beautiful attacking kick too
 
doggies ftw said:
Yeah seems that way but I hope the clubs reconsidering whilst seeing what an asset it can be to have a defender taking marks. This bloke will take 10 intercept marks a week at his peak, I think there’s a real case to be made for him staying there - beautiful attacking kick too
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He looks like he could be a really special player. Can’t wait to see him next year with a big pre season
 

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I'm not saying anything, but surely I wasn't the only one that felt a little bit more safe when Naughton went down back against both the Giants yesterday, and I believe Melbourne a few weeks back?

I hope we recruit someone that provides that feeling of "I'm backing in our guy to beat their guy". Alex Keath gave me that feeling at moments last year, but if we don't recruit anyone, and we do recruit Lobb, surely Naughton down back at least gets considered.
 
If the long term vision is Darcy forward then there's no option but to shift Naughts back play a four tall forward line and leave Gardner one out at fb surrounded by Dale, Daniel, Richards, Williams and maybe Smith to properly align our Baileys and really confuse oppo coaches.

More seriously he's much more valuable as one of the game's best CHFs, but for the sake of the team I think he has to play back next year. He's about 3 classes above any other option we have down there, it is our absolutely glaring Achilles heel, and we have to hope that we can cobble something together with Jamarra, Bruce and potentially English up forward.
 
In the last 2 years he's averaged just over 2 goals a game (approx 2.13). If he were to continue at that rate, and play another 9 seasons (until he's 31), then he'd basically be level with Beasley and Brad Johnson as our greatest ever goalkicker... You don't move that player to the backline.
 
If we are actually bringing in Rory Lobb (which I doubt tbh) then I think Naughton should go back. Lobb, Jamarra and Darcy would be plenty of marking power in our front half. We need to spread our tall talent among those two ends a bit more evenly. Naughton is the one who makes sense. He's a ridiculously good forward but in reality he's going to be a superstar at either end of the ground. Look at Darcy Moore, that guy wins games as a KPD. That would be Naughton. You do have to wonder how he would feel about it though. Now that he's had a taste of being the star forward, could he relinquish that? I mean I'm sure he would for the sake of the team, but would he be content in the long term being a defender again? He's the best player we have, some thought needs to go into keeping him happy so that he enjoys his footy, plays well and never wants to leave us.
 
ScragCity said:
If we are actually bringing in Rory Lobb (which I doubt tbh) then I think Naughton should go back. Lobb, Jamarra and Darcy would be plenty of marking power in our front half. We need to spread our tall talent among those two ends a bit more evenly. Naughton is the one who makes sense. He's a ridiculously good forward but in reality he's going to be a superstar at either end of the ground. Look at Darcy Moore, that guy wins games as a KPD. That would be Naughton. You do have to wonder how he would feel about it though. Now that he's had a taste of being the star forward, could he relinquish that? I mean I'm sure he would for the sake of the team, but would he be content in the long term being a defender again? He's the best player we have, some thought needs to go into keeping him happy so that he enjoys his footy, plays well and never wants to leave us.
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Given he's possibly going to crack 50 goals this year, I'm on the side of leaving him forward and finding another solution in defence.

But with Darcy looking like he'll be pushing best 22 from next ear and possibly adding Lobb and a reanimated Bruce, I could see him being used a swingman more often next year. The key is not robbing Peter to pay Paul in the process, which relies on other forwards filling the breach.
 
ScragCity said:
If we are actually bringing in Rory Lobb (which I doubt tbh) then I think Naughton should go back. Lobb, Jamarra and Darcy would be plenty of marking power in our front half. We need to spread our tall talent among those two ends a bit more evenly. Naughton is the one who makes sense. He's a ridiculously good forward but in reality he's going to be a superstar at either end of the ground. Look at Darcy Moore, that guy wins games as a KPD. That would be Naughton. You do have to wonder how he would feel about it though. Now that he's had a taste of being the star forward, could he relinquish that? I mean I'm sure he would for the sake of the team, but would he be content in the long term being a defender again? He's the best player we have, some thought needs to go into keeping him happy so that he enjoys his footy, plays well and never wants to leave us.
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Moore isn't the best one to highlight as he firstly was never as good a forward as Naughton is and secondly despite the lack of coverage on it gives up a large number of goals and i'm 99% sure he is winning the reverse coleman. There is a great myth over how effective straight intercept defenders are as realistically if you look at the top 5 defenders in the comp you'll realise yes they are competent interceptors e.g May/Weitering however they are primarily much better lock down 1 on 1 defenders who make the Moores and Levers of the world look significantly better then they are
 
Forward or Back, one of the truly great questions and tbh I still haven't settled on one or the other. For the most part I feel he should go back now with more forward options available to us specially if we get Lobb. JUH is giving us a glimpse of what he can become and boy oh boy he's going to be a handful in a few years and Darcy has that something special. For all that he's kicked 50 goals on one leg in a team that has struggled to connect all year? JUH/Lobb/Naughts would be a nightmare match up for opposing teams, throw in Darcy/Bruce as different options from time to time there's a lot to build on. I also believe we don't swing him enough, he can be such a headache for coaches swinging back and forth more often but I guess it can be unsettling as well?
I guess I'm still on the fence haha.....
 
Helped save the game for us in defence in the last few minutes :p
 
We’ve got a 22 year old player who has been forward for years, has kicked 50 goals this year, close to 100 over the past two. And literally is our only avenue to goal for the most part.

And we’ve got an 18yo whose admittedly played 2 games but looks like he’s played 200. Has played defence for almost all of his good juniors form, all of his good form since he joined the club has been in defence. His attributes are perfectly suited to defence, and he’s exactly what we’ve been crying out for in defence.

Why are people so keen to swap them? Wouldn’t it make more sense to leave as is and develop them in the positions they’re currently comfortable & playing in?
 
What's old is new. A year ago this thread had been put to bed. Suddenly it's a debate again.

I find that odd seeing Naughton is effectively a 50 goal a year KPF, something we haven't had since 2015. And that's with our appalling structure for much of the year. If he was playing at Sydney or Collingwood he'd probably have 60+ by now. Don't forget Naughton also kicked 47 last year so it's no flash in the pan.

As Foxman said, Naughton isn't the one-on-one kind of defender we are most in need of. At the same time a strong intercept marking defender would be a breath of fresh air. The club also thinks so if it is chasing Barrass.

Anyway I'm yet to be convinced sending Naughton back is the right move. We may never find out what sort of defender he would really have been.
 
I hear all the arguments for and against. One thought if we playing the cats in a GF not likely this season who would be the player best suited in the dogs to play on Jeremy Cameron in a perfect world. I came up with Astro he would match all his strengths maybe a fraction slower.
 
Optimistic Dog said:
I hear all the arguments for and against. One thought if we playing the cats in a GF not likely this season who would be the player best suited in the dogs to play on Jeremy Cameron in a perfect world. I came up with Astro he would match all his strengths maybe a fraction slower.
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They should play Jeremy Cameron in defense on Naughton.
 
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