Strategy Aaron Naughton - Key Defender or Key Forward?

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It's a blessing and a curse.. Naughton is so focussed on getting the ball, he cannot see when a teammate ( which is right now our best forward, JUH ) is in the best position to mark...

IMHO, Naughton's most natural position ( with the above in mind ) is CHB.. He would be an absolute monster.

For the above to happen, I honestly feel a coaching change at the top is the only way for this to occur though......

Croft, JUH and a Resting Darcy will be just a lot to handle for any defence.. My 2 cents only...
 
LondonBulldog said:
Firstly, to Dogwatch, the club should never be asking where a player wants to play. He should play wherever the coaches fill fit, it's a team game and unless all have the mentality you will never be totally successful.

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Yes you do, with a very small number marquee players anyway. Not with a Caleb Daniel, a Luke Cleary, a Harvey Gallagher or a Rhylee West but I'd do it with an under 25 elite player who could easily slot into quite different roles, like Naughton can. Yes, even if he's just signed an 8 year contract.

He has gone on record as saying he's a forward and doesn't want to play defence. So do we risk just pissing him off and seeing him ask for a trade to a club where he can enjoy his footy more? No. Nor do we just roll over and say OK you can play forward forever even if you're only kicking 20-30 goals a year.

Inviting him into the conversation is a way of getting buy-in and also getting an unwritten contract that if he doesn't perform as a forward he will accept the challenge to go back, without sooking it up. It also gives him an incentive to perform as a forward (hopefully that's not needed, but we have seen some pretty highly credentialled players in the past who only ever seem to perform to their best in their contract year).

Each to their own but that's how I'd do it.
 

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SackofTaters said:
It's a blessing and a curse.. Naughton is so focussed on getting the ball, he cannot see when a teammate ( which is right now our best forward, JUH ) is in the best position to mark...

IMHO, Naughton's most natural position ( with the above in mind ) is CHB.. He would be an absolute monster.

For the above to happen, I honestly feel a coaching change at the top is the only way for this to occur though......

Croft, JUH and a Resting Darcy will be just a lot to handle for any defence.. My 2 cents only...
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Why not playing a higher forward rather than deep?
 
stefoid said:
Why not playing a higher forward rather than deep?
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Whilst I think he is best playing higher up. Jamarra has shown he is also good pushing up the ground. The strong bodied shut down defenders/interceptors just hang out inside 50 anyway. So if Naughton isn't getting them, Jamarra would.

Personally, I'd make them both move up the ground at now and then, drag the tall defenders out out. Give our smalls all the space. Seems to be an effective tactic for a few teams. If we are going to play the long bomb to no one, or have our talls just stand around and seldom lead. I'd rather play smaller at times. Mix it up. We seem to have just the one tactic up front.
 
_Cerberus_ said:
Whilst I think he is best playing higher up. Jamarra has shown he is also good pushing up the ground. The strong bodied shut down defenders/interceptors just hang out inside 50 anyway. So if Naughton isn't getting them, Jamarra would.

Personally, I'd make them both move up the ground at now and then, drag the tall defenders out out. Give our smalls all the space. Seems to be an effective tactic for a few teams. If we are going to play the long bomb to no one, or have our talls just stand around and seldom lead. I'd rather play smaller at times. Mix it up. We seem to have just the one tactic up front.
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We have three 208cm guys on the list who would be much better at contesting long deep kicks than Naughty.
 
House_of_Dahl said:
A lot of this discussion seems to assume Naughts will be a gun KPD. Kinda unlikely he would be quickly. If he is/can I'm not against it. But the first thing I want tried is to play him up the ground instead of deep.
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Very true. Don’t reckon we will ever find out anyways.
 
House_of_Dahl said:
A lot of this discussion seems to assume Naughts will be a gun KPD. Kinda unlikely he would be quickly. If he is/can I'm not against it. But the first thing I want tried is to play him up the ground instead of deep.
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I'm of the opinion that Naughton would adapt rather quickly. His years spent as a forward and time spent training with leading patterns can only help with his defending nowadays.

Jones and Naughton as our key talls with Richards and JJ as our primary rebounders makes our defense so much better. JOD can play as the third tall which he is more suited for (Easton Wood replacement)

No more Keath and no more Gardner, one is cooked and the other is not up to the standard. Delist next year, draft another key tall while Busslinger continues to develop and put on muscle.

The move of Naughton back would also allow Darcy to play forward and we need to get games into him now. What's the point of waiting another year?
 
The 4th Horseman said:
I'm of the opinion that Naughton would adapt rather quickly. His years spent as a forward and time spent training with leading patterns can only help with his defending nowadays.

Jones and Naughton as our key talls with Richards and JJ as our primary rebounders makes our defense so much better. JOD can play as the third tall which he is more suited for (Easton Wood replacement)

No more Keath and no more Gardner, one is cooked and the other is not up to the standard. Delist next year, draft another key tall while Busslinger continues to develop and put on muscle.

The move of Naughton back would also allow Darcy to play forward and we need to get games into him now. What's the point of waiting another year?
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Like I said I'm not against it, and feel it's almost required if Jones gets injured. It's just no sure thing he'll be a gun KPD immediately.
 
The 4th Horseman said:
Even if Naughton takes a little while to find his feet again in defence he's still a lot better than any other option we have currently for the 2nd key position.
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If Naughton does go back it will take a fair bit of time to get anywhere near his potential down back. Doesn't mean he shouldn't, just means we would have to be patient, not sure our supporter base is that patient these days
 

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While we can all see the potential benefits for team balance in having Naughton in defence now that we have both JUH and Darcy (we hope) as serious tall forward targets, we shouldn't forget that Naughton has been our leading goalkicker the last two years and was only 1 goal behind Josh Bruce in 2021.

He has kicked 142 goals in those three years and is the only player to kick more than 50 in a season since Stringer in 2015. So is 45-50 a year his peak output? Or is it reasonable to expect he will do even better as he hits his mid 20s?

I'm prepared to overlook his game last week and I expect him to be a threat this week.

It may not be everybody's first choice but I don't think we can grizzle if he does stay forward and kicks another 50+ this year. That's rare air for any forward in the comp. Only nine players managed it last year.
 
dogwatch said:
While we can all see the potential benefits for team balance in having Naughton in defence now that we have both JUH and Darcy (we hope) as serious tall forward targets, we shouldn't forget that Naughton has been our leading goalkicker the last two years and was only 1 goal behind Josh Bruce in 2021.

He has kicked 142 goals in those three years and is the only player to kick more than 50 in a season since Stringer in 2015. So is 45-50 a year his peak output? Or is it reasonable to expect he will do even better as he hits his mid 20s?

I'm prepared to overlook his game last week and I expect him to be a threat this week.

It may not be everybody's first choice but I don't think we can grizzle if he does stay forward and kicks another 50+ this year. That's rare air for any forward in the comp. Only nine players managed it last year.
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I've waxed and waned on this one over the years DW. Started off resolutely declaring he should stay in defence, grew accustomed to him being forward but now return to the defensive side.

How many goals a year would he save as part of a defensive back 6 and how many more would he generate through rebounding and intercepting by allowing running players more freedom? If the answer is more than 50....... Sure, we'd have to find other players to kick the goals but we may not need as many to win and we may kick them a different way.

We'd play the game slightly differently I'd suggest and I'd also suggest the side would be generally a lot more confident. In their successful seasons of recent times, the Cats and Melbourne appeared to gain a lot of team confidence generally, knowing that their defensive units were 2 of the better ones going around, were likely to force turnovers and strangle/stifle opposition attacks with regular monotony.

It's an old saying but, by and large, successful teams are built from the back forward. I rather think that the sum of our parts would be greater with Naughts in defence.

Bevo gave himself the answer in his presser. Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity. Not deploying a fleet of tall intercepting defenders when they exist in combination on your list (Jones, JOD and Naughts) does seem a little insane....to me.
 
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Next Waiting said:
I've waxed and waned on this one over the years DW. Started off resolutely declaring he should stay in defence, grew accustomed to him being forward but now return to the defensive side.

How many goals a year would he save as part of a defensive back 6 and how many more would he generate through rebounding and intercepting by allowing running players more freedom? If the answer is more than 50....... Sure, we'd have to find other players to kick the goals but we may not need as many to win and we may kick them a different way.

We'd play the game slightly differently I'd suggest and I'd also suggest the side would be generally a lot more confident. In their successful seasons of recent times, the Cats and Melbourne appeared to gain a lot of team confidence generally, knowing that their defensive units were 2 of the better ones going around, were likely to force turnovers and strangle/stifle opposition attacks with regular monotony.

It's an old saying but, by and large, successful teams are built from the back forward. I rather think that the sum of our parts would be greater with Naughts in defence.

Bevo gave himself the answer in his presser. Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is the very definition of insanity. Not deploying a fleet of tall intercepting defenders when they exist in combination on your list (Jones, JOD and Naughts) does seem a little insane....to me.
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I've waxed and waned like you. However where I've landed is more Zen. It is what it is. No matter how many powerful arguments we mount here it probably isn't going to change under the current regime.

So I'm just accepting it and looking at the upside of Naughton remaining a KPF.
He'd want to do more than he did last week though.
 
dogwatch said:
I've waxed and waned like you. However where I've landed is more Zen. It is what it is. No matter how many powerful arguments we mount here it probably isn't going to change under the current regime.

So I'm just accepting it and looking at the upside of Naughton remaining a KPF.
He'd want to do more than he did last week though.
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Zen was traded to the Saints
 
We used to get Naughton way up the ground and he would take big marks as high as the wing. With JUH and English\Darcy being more than capable why isn't this happening anymore? Get out of each others way for once.

Weightman as well.
 
Part of the the issue with Naughton going back now is we have very few other avenues to goal. We have no crumbing forwards, no pressure forwards and no medium talls.

At a period when Melbourne were recruiting or giving rookie spots to Fritsch, Chandler, Pickett and Bedford (now at GWS) and Geelong recruiting Close, Myers and Stengle, we were recruiting Cavarra, McNeil and whoever happened to be Footscray’s best midfielder at the time to play small forward roles.

Recruit better forwards and Naughton could potentially go back. Jamarra and Weightman yes, but who else?

Makeshift forwards in games since we recruited Naughton have included Wood, Wallis, Khamis, Scott, McComb, Lewis Young, Lachie Young, VDM, Cordy, Richards, Williams, Libba, Gardner, Trengove. As far as avenues to goal, we are rolling in with a knife to a gunfight with this sort of stuff.
 
Pocket Terrace said:
Part of the the issue with Naughton going back now is we have very few other avenues to goal. We have no crumbing forwards, no pressure forwards and no medium talls.

At a period when Melbourne were recruiting or giving rookie spots to Fritsch, Chandler, Pickett and Bedford (now at GWS) and Geelong recruiting Close, Myers and Stengle, we were recruiting Cavarra, McNeil and whoever happened to be Footscray’s best midfielder at the time to play small forward roles.

Recruit better forwards and Naughton could potentially go back. Jamarra and Weightman yes, but who else?

Makeshift forwards in games since we recruited Naughton have included Wood, Wallis, Khamis, Scott, McComb, Lewis Young, Lachie Young, VDM, Cordy, Richards, Williams, Libba, Gardner, Trengove. As far as avenues to goal, we are rolling in with a knife to a gunfight with this sort of stuff.
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I just don't see Darcy as a defender and it's simply down to pace. Reads the ball well etc but slow. I'd rather plonk him in the goal square and fwd/ruck as required but send Naughts back.
 
Next Waiting said:
I just don't see Darcy as a defender and it's simply down to pace. Reads the ball well etc but slow. I'd rather plonk him in the goal square and fwd/ruck as required but send Naughts back.
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I agree. Naughton back would be my choice out of the two to go back. Maybe with a few more runs on the board from Darce, that will happen. Even so, we play 2/3 players each week who have the ability to kick 3+ in a game. Right now, Naughton is one of them.

Outside of NGA and Father Son picks, our front half drafting has been diabolical. As such, big Astro up forward is where we are at.
 
BallaratBulldog said:
We used to get Naughton way up the ground and he would take big marks as high as the wing. With JUH and English\Darcy being more than capable why isn't this happening anymore? Get out of each others way for once.

Weightman as well.
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Absolutely. His heat map shouldn’t be centred inside 50, not only would it free him up but it would create space for JUH, Weightman and Lobb/Darcy.

Honestly, some better coaching would do wonders for this team. Particularly the forward line.
 
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