Western Bulldogs great Brad Johnson thinks Aaron Naughton’s future lies at centre half-back rather than as a key forward.
Naughton has spearheaded the Bulldogs attack for the last two years after spending his debut season down back.
An intercept defender through his junior years, there have been calls for coach Luke Beveridge to swing Naughton into defence, with the Dogs lacking an imposing presence down back.
Johnson says the 21-year-old would be “four-quarter player” at centre half-back and that he has the potential to “tear the competition apart” as a defender.
“My personal opinion on it, and he’s still a developing player, I think centre half-back is where he should evolve to,” Johnson told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“Just at the moment, he’s a gun player, but he’ll play a good two-and-a-half quarters then he might go missing for a little bit because the ball movement’s slow.
“If he was at centre half-back, he’d be a four-quarter performer every single week.
“I understand why Luke Beveridge is playing him the way that he’s playing at the moment because of his aerial ability, crashes packs, brings the ball to ground … but I can just visualise that stability of him being at centre half-back.
“We used to say it with ‘Granty’ (Chris Grant) at centre half-back - you just walk taller knowing you have a guy there that reads the game so well, that is able to instruct … and you can start moving better as a team when you’ve got that one strong pillar at centre half-back.
“He’s just too good a player to be in and out of the game - I think he’s the type of player that could absolutely tear the competition apart if is able to play four solid quarters at centre half-back for example.”
Embarking on his fourth season at Whitten Oval, Naughton has kicked 49 goals in 53 games and is a strong marking target inside forward 50 for the Bulldogs.
