Port v Sydney AFL preliminary final: How Power forward Charlie Dixon goes under the radar

If Charlie Dixon can slip under the radar of the Swans’ defence like he did to Sydneysiders in Pitt Street Mall, the Power could go a long way to winning.

He’s one of the most recognisable figures in Adelaide, but how many Sydney-siders would recognise Port Adelaide forward Charlie Dixon?

That was the question we wanted answered as we headed to Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall on Thursday with a life-size cut-out of the Power big man.

We had carted him 1500km over three days in our pilgrimage to the SCG in preparation for Port’s AFL preliminary final against Sydney.

He’d taken up a fair bit of room in our rebadged “Port Everest” 4WD and the time had finally come for him to do some of the heavy lifting and take centre stage.

The cut-out is a couple of years old but Dixon still looks pretty much the same, and his large frame certainly caught people’s eyes as they walked by. The results of our admittedly unscientific survey were hardly surprising.

Port fans Leanne (left) and Sarah Goldsmith, from Adelaide, were well aware who Charlie is when they bumped into him in Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall on Thursday. Picture: Dean Martin

Lucas Barnes, 9, from Adelaide, also knew exactly who Charlie was. Picture: Dean Martin

Of the 50 people we asked, only five knew who he was – and most of those were Port fans already in town for the big match.

“Sorry mate, no idea,” was a common response in this city where rugby league dominates the sporting discussion, even as the Swans go deep in AFL finals.

“He’s very handsome and very tall, but I’ve never actually seen him in real life and I don’t know who he is,” one man said.

But recognising Dixon was no problem for Port Adelaide youngster Lucas Barnes, 9, who had just arrived in town for Friday night’s game.

“That’s Charlie Dixon, he’s my favourite player,” Lucas said.

Adelaide mother and daughter Leanne and Sarah Goldsmith flew to Sydney on Thursday morning and were wearing their Power guernseys when they come up for a chat and a photo with Dixon.

Sydney-based Geelong supporter Peter Read also recognised Dixon, and couldn’t help having a dig at the Power’s disappointing qualifying final performance against Geelong two weeks ago. We won’t dignify his comments by publishing them here.