Aaron Naughton (born 30 November 1999) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Standing at 195 cm, Naughton is considered a key-position player who is renowned for his strong marking skills and can play both in defence and attack. He is known by his

fans as the AstroNaught due to his surname and for his large leaps to grasp outstanding high-flying marks.

Early years

Naughton was born in Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to Gabby and Wayne Naughton and lived in

Langwarrin Langwarrin ( ) is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, central business district, located within the City of Frankston Local government areas of Victoria, local government ar ...

. He has an older brother, Travis, who played high-level junior football but was not drafted. At a young age, Naughton and his family moved to Rockingham,

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He was educated at Kolbe Catholic College, and played his junior football for the Rockingham Rams Football Club. After his time with the Rams, he played under-16s state football and then under-18s state football for Western Australia, where his potential was realised. He played two under-18s matches in 2016, averaging 7.5 disposals and two marks, and then stepped it up in 2017, playing four matches with an average of 14.8 disposals and 5.3 marks. He was also playing for the Peel Thunder throughout the 2016 and 2017 seasons, in both the Colts and Senior divisions. He played 13 games for the Colts division in 2016, where he averaged 4 marks and 14 disposals a game. He then split his time between the Colts and Seniors in 2017, playing 7 matches in both divisions. He had his best game in the senior team in round 19 of the 2017 WAFL season, where he had 23 disposals and 11 marks. Naughton narrowly missed playing in the Thunder's premiership victory against , having former player Zac Dawson chosen instead of him.

AFL career

He was drafted by the Western Bulldogs with their first selection and ninth overall in the 2017 national draft. He made his debut in the 82-point loss to at UNSW Canberra Oval in the opening round of the 2018 season. Naughton went on to play 18 games in his debut season, finishing fourth in the club best-and-fairest count and winning the Chris Grant Best First Year Player Award. He also earned a Rising Star nomination for his performance against in Round 23. Naughton moved into the forward line at the beginning of 2019. This move proved to be a success and Naughton kicked 32 goals in his second year. Naughton led the AFL for contested marks at the conclusion of the 2019 season, with a total of 53. His contested marking was best on display in Round 7 against Richmond, claiming 9 contested marks, he was only 1 shy of the AFL record. Naughton kicked a career-high six goals in the 12th round of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

against the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

. Naughton had a career-best start to the

2021 AFL season The 2021 AFL season was the 125th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...

, kicking multiple goals in every single game up to Round 9. He was named as one of the Bulldogs' best players in their close win over , after kicking 3 goals, including the one that put them back in front in the final quarter. He then had his best game for the season in Round 9, where he kicked 4 goals and helped secure the team a win against .

Career statistics summary

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of round 9, 2021'' , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 18 , , 2 , , 1 , , 130 , , 78 , , 208 , , 77 , , 38 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 7.2 , , 4.3 , , 11.6 , , 4.3 , , 2.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 23 , , 32 , , 27 , , 170 , , 80 , , 250 , , 132 , , 42 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , 7.4 , , 3.5 , , 10.9 , , 5.7 , , 1.8 , -style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 12 , , 15 , , 6 , , 46 , , 38 , , 84 , , 42 , , 9 , , 1.3 , , 0.5 , , 3.8 , , 3.2 , , 7.0 , , 3.5 , , 0.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 33 , , 9 , , 22 , , 16 , , 90 , , 26 , , 116 , , 64 , , 14 , , 2.4 , , 1.8 , , 10.0 , , 2.9 , , 12.9 , , 7.1 , , 1.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 62 ! 71 ! 50 ! 436 ! 222 ! 658 ! 315 ! 103 ! 1.2 ! 0.8 ! 7.0 ! 3.6 ! 10.6 ! 5.1 ! 1.7 Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naughton, Aaron 1999 births Living people Western Bulldogs players Peel Thunder Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Western Australia People from Frankston, Victoria Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Sportsmen from Western Australia 21st-century Australian sportsmen