Giant Jonathon Patton opens up on how he overcame his form slump earlier in the season
GWS Giants key forward Jonathon Patton has opened up on how he ‘took a good hard look’ at himself to help deal with a recent slump in form.
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GWS key forward Jonathon Patton has opened up on how he dealt with a recent slump in form.
Patton had a solid start to the year, before a tough month where he booted just four goals and was twice held goalless.
But the forward returned to form against the Brisbane Lions, kicking four goals, collecting 23 disposals and taking 13 marks — including six contested grabs.
“I went through a bit of a period there where I was out of form and my footy wasn’t going along too well,” Patton said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“I had a good start to the year and then — most players go through a bit of a form slump — and then luckily on the weekend I got on the end of a few kicks.”
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Patton was held to two early goals and well beaten by Carlton revelation Liam Jones in Round 12, taking just three marks in a disappointing individual performance.
While the Giants were disappointing as a whole in their loss to the Blues, the forward said his own competitiveness, rather than his midfield’s work, was to blame for his poor showing.
“You’ve got to look at yourself first and of course being a forward, you do rely on your midfield for some good connection,” Patton said.
“But I looked at my game tape and all that sort of stuff and I took a good, hard look in the mirror at myself and I wasn’t competing the way I should have.
“I was lucky that Leon backed me in last week and I played my role for the team (this week).”
Drafted at Pick 1 in the 2011 AFL Draft, Patton hasn’t had an easy start to his AFL season.
His first season was affected by jumper’s knee, while he tore his ACL in 2013, then again at the end of 2014.
But having played 23 straight games in 2016 and the majority of this year’s matches, the 24-year-old looks on track to have a long career alongside Jeremy Cameron and Toby Greene up front for the Giants.
Despite his rough run of form earlier in the season, Patton said it had simply been a matter of pushing through until things got back on track.
“I’m a pretty laid-back kind of guy but ... when you do go through a form slump, you do question yourself a lot more until you play a game where — like I did on the weekend — your confidence gets right back up there,” Patton said.
“And then hopefully from then on, you don’t look back.”
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Originally published as Giant Jonathon Patton opens up on how he overcame his form slump earlier in the season
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