Love-struck Dixon extends Port Adelaide stay
CHARLIE Dixon says falling in love with Adelaide was key to him extending his stay at Port Adelaide for an extra three years while Power general manager of football Chris Davies says rival clubs did come hard for the star forward.
Dixon became the second Port Adelaide player this week to extend his stay at Alberton until 2023 as he joined Sam Powell-Pepper in recommitting to the club.
The new deal comes after Crows football director Mark
Ricciuto set tongues wagging when he suggested on his breakfast Triple M show that Brisbane was prepared to offer Dixon a four-year deal to return to Queensland.
Davies said Ricciuto “was absolutely correct” in the information he received about the Cairns product.
“Charlie had a number of clubs who were after him but he decided to stay which is great for us,” Davies said.
“He’s a guy who is such a beacon of strength for us, guys walk taller around him.
“He is a really important signature and as you heard last week there were plenty of clubs after his signature.”
Dixon said he originally thought he would head home to Queensland when he first arrived at Port Adelaide from the Gold Coast in 2015, but said Adelaide had won his heart.
“I’ve made Adelaide my home now,” he said. “I sort of did think about some other options but at the end of the day it just didn’t feel right.
“Over my last couple of years here the club has done a lot for me, they’ve helped me not just in my football but my off-field stuff as well.
“My first couple of years here it was my first winter coming from Queensland and I was like ‘it seems like it’s raining every day, maybe I’ll just do my five years and then retire and go back home to Queensland’.
“But I’ve fallen in love with Adelaide and I can’t really see myself anywhere else. I love the place, I love the people, I love the club. Adelaide has changed me and I can see myself long-term here, so it was an easy decision in the end.”
Dixon has been in careerbest form in 2020, helping the
Power to the top of the ladder. He said he was loving footy again and said an off-season trip with Travis Boak to the Red Bull Academy in the US had opened his eyes about how to keep his body in good nick after injuries in previous years.
“I hadn’t enjoyed my football for a number of years. I suppose it felt like a job where I was coming in and ticking the box and leaving, where I think the COVID stuff has made me realise how much you miss the big group stuff as well,” he said.
“I’ve fallen back in love with the game.”