Bulldogs star forward Aaron Naughton took his goalkicking game to new heights in 2025, booting a career-high 60 goals in 23 matches, which included five hauls of five or more goals.
However, Naughton's dominance inside forward 50 wasn't instant this year, opening the season with just five goals from four games, including a three-week patch between rounds 2 and 4 where he managed just five shots at goal.
Had that rate continued, Naughton would have been on pace for 29 goals, his fewest goal tally in a full season of action.
Something changed after that first month though. In the 19 games that followed, Naughton kicked multiple goals 14 times and between rounds 16 and 24, kicked fewer than three goals just twice (two goals vs Brisbane, Fremantle).
Speaking to Bulldogs Media, Naughton attributed his rapid rise up the Coleman Medal leaderboard in 2025 to Bulldogs assistant coach Matthew Spangher, who's mentorship allowed Naughton to refocus on what he does best.
"I'm confident that I can play good footy at the highest level and working with Spangher really closely helped," Naughton said.
"We stripped things right back to basics and focused on my strengths, which is my marking and athleticism and just really honing in on those couple of things.
"It was really helpful to get me to play with freedom and it was nice to get reward in the second half of the year."
Spangher has been the forwards coach at the Footscray-based outfit since 2022, overseeing two prior 40-plus goal seasons from Naughton before the 26-year-old took a step back in 2024, kicking 35 goals in a year where he fell short of superstar level standards.
But it should come as no surprise that Spangher has helped Naughton elevate his game tremendously back to where it should be.
In March, Spangher was awarded with the Phil Walsh Memorial Scholarship, an annual grant given to coaches who follow the example of the late senior coach to aid their development in the AFL coaching industry.
His strengths as a coach ensured that the Bulldogs attack remained among the league's elite in 2025, despite a number of injury concerns in the front half.
Unicorn talent Sam Darcy missed a significant stint of the season and small forward Cody Weightman was out for the year entirely, but that didn't prevent the Bulldogs from scoring an average of 16 goals per game - the first club to do so since Adelaide in 2016.
"We had a few injuries in the forward line for the year," Naughton said.
"Obviously, Cody wasn't out there for any games and he's a member of our leadership group, so it was a big hole to miss. But the likes of Rylee West and Joel Freijah stepping up really helped us.... driving the standards at training and having a voice among the group."
Time will tell if Naughton can back up his efforts in 2026 but Spangher's presence at the club will continue to ensure both Naughton's and the Bulldogs' scoring tenacity remains at the heights it reached in 2025.
