Two things have Aaron Naughton excited about the build up to 2020.

One of those is finally being back on the park, after playing three quarters of a match simulation session at Mooloolaba on Sunday.

The other is playing alongside new recruit Josh Bruce and Josh Schache, which Naughton also got a look at in Sunday’s hit-out.

“It was our first time with the three talls to be able to work together,” Naughton said.

“It was pretty fresh.

“We worked it well… over the coming weeks and leading into the Marsh Community Series, we’ll be able to build that chemistry and no doubt it’s going to be a lot of fun up there.”

It’s been a different pre-season for Naughton, as he’s worked to overcome the first significant injury of his career.

The emerging forward sustained a serious knee injury in the Bulldogs’ elimination final loss to the GWS Giants, and has slowly built his training loads over the past couple of months.

He kicked two goals and took a big mark in the third quarter, but most importantly got through unscathed.

“It’s obviously been good this week up here in Mooloolaba, to be able to play a little bit of match sim has been nice,” Naughton said.

“It’s sort of a bit nerve-wracking first time out there again, but I’m building nicely.

“It was good to be able to be able to take a couple of marks and get the ball moving again.

“Not everything’s going to come back straight in the first match-sim, but it was nice to run around and attack the footy.”