Bulldogs goalsneak Cody Weightman says he desires versatile tall Aaron Naughton to stay a ahead regardless of his positional swap serving to the aspect return to type in opposition to the Kangaroos.
Weightman booted a career-best six objectives, together with 4 within the second half, after Naughton was moved to defence to cowl for injured duo Liam Jones and Tim O’Brien in spherical 14.
The Bulldogs’ ahead half appeared to thrive with out the 195cm Naughton, who has kicked 26 objectives this season and had two at halftime earlier than he was shifted again.
But his teammate is assured the Bulldogs are at their finest across the objectives once they have Naughton as the principle goal in assault.
“I’m pretty happy at his feet, he’s a pretty good target for us and we like him forward,” Weightman stated.
“I love playing with Naughty, he’s pretty selfless as a player and he’s obviously an amazing athlete.
“I’m more than happy to have him come back forward … my personal hope is that he’s forward with me, and whatever end of the ground he is at, obviously we’ve been hurt a bit with injury down back if that’s where he needs to be, and I’m sure he’ll play a more effective role.”
The Bulldogs are prone to be with out their two most popular key defenders for the remainder of the home-and-away season after Jones fractured his forearm in opposition to the Roos and O’Brien suffered a extreme hamstring damage.
Josh Bruce and Ryan Gardner each form as choices to play alongside Alex Keath in defence, whereas rookie tall James O’Donnell and Sam Darcy, who’s getting ready to a return from a damaged jaw, is also moved to defence by coach Luke Beveridge.
“I’m really confident in the boys that we have on the list, we’re lucky this year that we’re pretty stocked for keys,” Weightman stated.
“Certainly replacing guys like Jonesy is going to be hard when he’s having such a great year, but we’ll be confident in whoever it is.”
The Bulldogs are coming off the bye once they face Fremantle on Saturday, with Weightman conscious about the dire 0-8 document of rested sides going through groups who’ve performed the week earlier than.
“I saw that record and most teams would have now – I’m not sure if we’ll address it as a club but I think the players know about it anyway, and certainly we’ll be looking to get on the front foot and try and buck the trend,” he stated.
“Obviously, if we want to threaten in September we need to beat those teams, so the next 10 or so weeks will set us up to put ourselves in a good position to challenge.”
Source: www.news.com.au
