Do something with Naughton.

[Bullies]

He played half forward and kicked 2 goals.

JUH played full game and kicked 0.

Lobb full game and kicked 1.

Not sure why he’s the guy that needs to be dislodged. Naughton is a very good forward.

It was a shame Naughton had to go back. He looked on his game and the North defence were very loose which he would have enjoyed cosidering the close checking he gets every week. We also need to remember that Marra will get the number 1 defender if Naughton goes back.

[bulldogtragic]

Journo: “So Alexander Fleming, by accident something good happened and the moulds brought about the creation of penicillin. Are you going to use this good luck or keep on with your rigid ideas.”

Flemo: “So, at the moment, no, I imagine 'Moulds' is going to stay forward in the Petrie dish, what could penicillin achieve?”

[AshMac]

Keep him back. Swing him forward occasional at the right moment of the right games.

I watched him pretty closely against port Adelaide. His off ball movement and leading patterns are so clunky. He competes with his own teammates for contested marks.

His marking ability, second efforts and aggression are elite characteristics and will serve him well anywhere - he is just a natural defender.

In a team with a glut of tall forwards, another 2m monster in Darcy playing VFL and Crofts son on the horizon - why can?t we keep him back and develop him into a 5x AA FB or CHB over the next 7 years?

[Bulldog Joe]

Cohesion in the forward line has been one of our issues for a long time.

It looked much better without Naughton there.

In the 1st Naughton killed a goal square mark for Jamarra costing a certain goal. That has been happening too often with our forwards competing for the same mark.

In the second half they had space from each other and used it well. Jamarra was very good delivering to the other forwards.

[jazzadogs]

It's definitely a choice where there is no right or wrong.

We KNOW:
- Naughton is an elite forward - 5th most goals in the whole competition across the last three years. Can take big contested marks and create his own goals on the ground.
- Lobb has struggled this year. He kicked 36 goals last year playing as #1 key forward out of the goal square.
- our key defensive pillar Liam Jones is out for an extended period, with likely replacements including Gardner (won't mark it, out of form), Bruce (not a KPD) or JOD (6 games of football).
- Josh Bruce has also played the best football of his career as a key forward, and currently looks as fit as he was in 2021 when he kicked 48 goals (also has seasons of 50, 38, 36 goals)

I just don't see why we wouldn't TRY. it's not discounting the fact that Naughton is an elite goal kicker - I'm just not convinced that is actually his best role IN THIS TEAM.

Just like Jack Macrae playing this hybrid half forward role. He is an ELITE ball winner in the contest...but Libba, Treloar and Bont are doing that better. So he is playing a different role for the TEAM.

[Boots]

Isn’t this the most frustrating thing about bevo? He will try almost anything except the obvious move.

in “a wink from the universe”, Flanagan talks about how Bevo turns players into their “natural” types. Specifically it talked about Picken’s transformation from tagger to small forward and Wood’s emergence as an intercept marker. In both cases Bevo basically told them play how it feels natural and let’s see what happens.

Reading between the lines, I think his style of coaching is about building players’ confidence in their talent rather than drilling their weaknesses, and then shaping the team to cover those weaknesses rather than fixing them. It’s a legitimate coaching strategy and it works really well - but I wonder how much bevo’s supposed rigidity grows from this approach. We talk about English’s refusal to be “second ruck”, for example. What if it’s bevo’s call because he fears it will dent English’s confidence?

It’s possible that Naughton expresses more confidence forward, which is why Bevo won’t move him.

[Grantysghost]

I'm not sold on the Naughton back train due to last night. I've been on it for a while.

However : what was clear as day was the space created by moving a tall forward out allowed things to function as intended.

Weightman plays as a tall, Marra does, Lobb does, Naughton does. When our high half forwards push up to the contest (always) we are left with no crumbers deep. We are crying out for a small crumbing forward. McNeil has the potential I think, however I'd like recruit someone into that role.

Naughton could be the ultimate swing man. Put him where needed.

[1eyedog]

Naughton has to play back because the options are Keath, Gardner and Bruce and so it will be bye bye finals if he doesn't.

[Sedat]

I'm not sold on the Naughton back train due to last night. I've been on it for a while.

However : what was clear as day was the space created by moving a tall forward out allowed things to function as intended.

Weightman plays as a tall, Marra does, Lobb does, Naughton does. When our high half forwards push up to the contest (always) we are left with no crumbers deep. We are crying out for a small crumbing forward. McNeil has the potential I think, however I'd like recruit someone into that role.

Naughton could be the ultimate swing man. Put him where needed.

Whatever we decide to do in the future with our structure, we need to understand Weightman is a 'tall' in exactly the same way as Toby Greene and Jamie Elliot - he's not and will never really be a traditional small crumbing forward. That means for mine we are probably going in with one (real) tall too many in the F50 most weeks.

[Topdog]

Much ado about nothing really.

We are a very average team and our wins have been against poor teams.

Only beat Brisbane and Adelaide from the top 8 and both were in Victoria.

The only thing that changed in the 2nd half was our forward line kicked straight.

[azabob]

Ok, now I’m confused.

So, are we moving Naughton to help our defence or our forward line?

[GVGjr]

Bevo's idea was initially to play 4 talls and due to the injury and form of Darcy that never quite happened. We even experimented with O'Donnell there for an extended period.
I don't think we can really question his intent.

Even with Jones out it's unlikely that changes much.
It's a good discussion but I think Bevo will stick with his plan and we just aren't a strong enough scoring side that can afford to take it's leading goal kickers away from the forward arc for a few games.

[Sedat]

Bevo's idea was initially to play 4 talls and due to the injury and form of Darcy that never quite happened. We even experimented with O'Donnell there for an extended period.
I don't think we can really question his intent.

Even with Jones out it's unlikely that changes much.
It's a good discussion but I think Bevo will stick with his plan and we just aren't a strong enough scoring side that can afford to take it's leading goal kickers away from the forward arc for a few games.

I don't think we will be seeing that experiment again any time soon. Having 4 talls plus Weightman as a 'tall' just makes us fair game for easy opposition D50 clearances. Although it did last 1 week longer than the Easton Wood as a forward experiment to be fair.

Bevo is actually pretty good at shelving structural plans pretty quickly if they patently don't work - he can pivot when he needs to. It is different discussion altogether with regard to his loyalty to specific players.

Naughton up forward is fine from my perspective. But when he is ice cold or double/triple teamed, he needs to be freed up to bash and crash around midfield for a 10-15 minute burst, or even swing behind the ball a little more often (like Adam Hunter during the West Coke era). He is too valuable a player to go 2 quarters not touching the ball as he has done in some games.

[Ozza]

The forward line finally had some space in it and looked to function much better with Naughton NOT there.

Naturally Bevo ruled out Naughton going back in the presser afterwards (from what I've read - I didn't watch it).

I'm thrilled we have the bye next weekend so I don't have to watch us. Its just so frustrating.

[jeemak]

I think we undersell Weightman's ability to pressure and get to a groundball, and I feel he's more rounded than being considered either a tall or small. He's a hybrid forward and is on his way to being an elite one at that.

However, that doesn't mean we don't need a genuine crumber as well.

As for Naughton, I was all for putting him back though I think to be effective in the role he'd need to train as a defender for a little while. What I really want to see from him in the immediate term is a less selfish approach to playing as a forward, more blocking for team mates, less crowding of contests, drawing the double team away from the space instead of bringing it with him to where his team mates could benefit from a genuine one on one.

There's no reason three tall forwards plus Weightman can't work, Naughton just needs to mature and sacrifice some of his game to make sure it does.