Singular focus a winner
CAIRNS’ Charlie Dixon is an old-school footballer in every sense of the term.
The Port Adelaide big man is one of the last power key forwards in the game and in a 2017 football landscape that is scrutinised by the media like never before, there would not be many like him.
With newspaper stories filling pages in Adelaide, the radio airwaves full of footy chat and every television news bulletin stacked with Adelaide Crows or Port news, the big bloke from the Far North does not recognise one aspect of it.
“As long as the coaches and my teammates are happy with how I am going, that is all that matters to me,” Dixon said yesterday. “I do not give a s*** about whatever anyone else thinks or says.
“I worry about what I can do for my teammates.”
The game pays Dixon a healthy wage for his services but he has his own interests outside of the job.
“I do not watch footy or follow it at all to be honest. I just worry about what is going on in my backyard and that is all that matters to me,” he said.
“My teammates and my family are all that matters to me.”
And that approach is obviously working well this season.
The Cairns Saints junior will play his first AFL final tomorrow night at home as the Power host West Coast with Dixon in career-best touch.
The 26-year-old has booted a career-high 46 goals, placing him tenth in the AFL and leads the league in contested marks.
He has also recorded career highs in tackles (3.0 per game), inside 50s (3.4 per game) and possessions (14.2), as well as featuring in all 22 games for the first time in his career.
“We just need to carry our form into the finals series and hopefully we can have a long and successful finals series because that is what we play for,” Dixon said.
“If we want to beat the Eagles, we need to stick to the way we play footy, which is hot, hard and contested footy, that is all that really matters.
“We need to play the way we want to and restrict how they play.”
The Power are back in September after two years outside of the finals, while Dixon will play his finals match after 105 games and seven seasons at the elite level.
With their cross-town rivals Crows hosting the GWS Giants last night and the Power and Eagles playing for their lives tomorrow night, he says the city has been abuzz.
“They love it over here in South Australia, and the entire state has been up and about this week,” Dixon said.
His parents, Helen and Gordon Dixon, brother Jesse Dixon and other family members will be at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday evening for the game.