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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(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 the outer Melbourne suburb of Frankston and played junior football with the Frankston YCW Junior Football Club from Auskick through to under-9s. Naughton and his family moved to

Rockingham, Western Australia Rockingham is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indi ...

in the summer of 1998-99. He was educated at

Kolbe Catholic College, Rockingham Kolbe Catholic College is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in the suburb of Rockingham, Western Australia within the Archdiocese of Perth. Overview The college was founded in 1989 by Brother Pat Car ...

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 feature ...

against the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) sinc ...

. 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 featu ...

, 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 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, 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 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 events, COVID- ...

, 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 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, 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

* * 1999 births Living people Western Bulldogs players Peel Thunder Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia People from Frankston, Victoria Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Sportsmen from Western Australia {{AFL-bio-1990s-stub