Has Naughton lost confidence in his body?

[meenies]

Last year it seemed that Naughton did not fly for as many marks and crash recklessly into packs. This preseason he missed a lot of the sessions. He has been underwhelming in the scratch matches and three rounds to date. He could not get off the ground in that last mark on Friday.
Has the Astronaught lost confidence in his body or just poorly out of form?
Any thoughts?

[Dazza]

Seems like he's carrying an injury.

[JanLorMill]

He played well in the first game of the season.

[jazzadogs]

He was just about our best player in round one. 17 touches, 8 marks (4 contested, 4 marks inside 50), 3.1.

I think he got a niggle in the Collingwood game. I've never seen him misjudge his leap like he was on Friday night.

I suspect the 9 day break will be seen as enough for him, but I think it would be reasonable to leave him in Melbourne if we feel he's below 80-90% fitness.

[Bornadog]

With limited preseason it is hard to catch up. He will be right after a few more games. However, I do agree with the OP, he doesn't fly for marks like he use to a few years ago. I think he hurt himself a few times which didn't help his confidence

[doggies ftw]

Underwhelming in preseason and early rounds? Was just about best on vs Hawks & Norf, coming off no preseason and glandular fever. He’ll be fine, been uncharacteristically poor last two weeks but he’s still finding a way to compete and had a few important moments whilst taking pressure off Darcy.

He’ll build into the season, can’t fault his effort the marks will start to click soon - also I don’t think it’s confidence he just needs to temper the way he flies for the ball, there’s no point getting himself injured every 2nd week playing kamikaze, especially when he’s got Darcy alongside him clunking them anyway

[jeemak]

Highest rated forward in the competition prior to being injured last season. Almost BOG in round one, a middling game and then a poor game with crucial impact in the last quarter after a terrible preseason.

Let's see how he works his way into the season.

[SonofScray]

He’ll be OK.

Building a base early in the year after an interruption filled preseason.

Definitely has adjusted his style to be a bit more conservative though, I think of it as of he’s realised it is a marathon, not a sprint and you can’t just fly for everything, every contest, every game and get to the end of the regular season held together by elastoplast. Back him in to find his form and so,e real consistency in his game by mid way.

[Rusty12]

No need to overcomplicate this.
Had a nothing pre-season, started on fire in the early games, and now hit a flat spot. Completely predictable.
If he stays healthy, he will come good; if he has a sore, can't train and has an injury-interrupted season, he will not regain form.
The track watchers will be able to tell you if he will come good, in rehab won't happen, training fully, no problem.
Have a huge pre-season, and then needed to be managed in season, rehab group etc, you can still hold form.

[Grantysghost]

I think he's preferred in the high key forward role now, maybe whatever injury he has is preventing him from getting to where he needs to be for this.
Pushing up and back like a Treacy for Fremantle.

[SPower]

I thought he had glandular fever which held him back and can be quite debilitating.